If you (or someone you care about) have been charged with a serious offence, you will no doubt trying to decide who will best represent your interests, both in court and through the process that will lead to trial. LAC Lawyers have experience in this area of the law who aim to achieve the best possible results on the behalf of their clients.
The principles offences against property in New South Wales include larceny, obtaining benefit by deception, robbery and burglary.
Larceny is known as theft or stealing. Section 117 of the New South Wales Crimes Act deals with the offence of larceny it occurs when a person steals who, without the consent of the owner, fraudulently and without a claim of right made in good faith, takes and carries away anything capable of being stolen with intent, at the time of such taken, permanently to deprive the owner of their .
Where a person commits larceny they are liable for imprisonment for a period of 5 years. These offences are either table 1 or table 2 offences the cut off is $5000. table 1 offence is where the value of the property exceeds $5000 and a table 2 offence occurs where the value of the property does not exceed $5000. Where the offence is a table 1 offence the maximum penalty which can be imposed is 2 years imprisonment but where the offence is a table 2 offence the maximum penalty that can be imposed is 12 months imprisonment or a fine of 50 penalty units or both but where the property does not exceed $2000 the maximum fine is 20 penalty units.
Larceny is an offence against possession and not against ownership so that a person lawfully in possession cannot commit larceny. If the taking of property is innocent then the light of misappropriation of the property cannot amount to larceny or receiving. The property must be moveable and have value no matter how slight. Essentially the taking and carrying away of the property of another must be done dishonestly. The taking must be without the consent of the owner. Property which has been abandoned cannot be stolen.
With stealing there must be an intention to permanently deprive the owner of the property, intent must exist at the time of the taking. It is important to remember that intention to permanently deprive will not be sufficient unless there is also some dishonesty.
Claim of right is often relied upon in cases of stealing. If the accused honestly believed that he was ascerting a lawful claim of right even if unreasonably held, there is no larceny. The defence only applies where acused takes back what thy believe they are owed. The defense applies not only to larceny but also where it is an element of an offence e.g. a case such as robbery.
Sections 154A and 154AA of the New South Wales Crimes Act deals with the stealing of Motor Vehicles. Section 154A of the Crimes Act deals with deemed larceny where a person takes and drives a car without necessarily intending to permanently deprive the owner of the car permanently. Such offence carrying a maximum penalty of 5 years imprisonment. Under section 154A this deals with a situation where the offender intends to permanently deprive the owner of the motor vehicle and this carries a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment.
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Author(s):Frank Egan B.A., LL.B., A.C.L.A., F.T.I.A. (Notary), Charuna Shah LL.B.