Aggravated Break and Enter - Armed With Intent to Commit Indictable Offence - police charges - Parramatta Local Court - Assault Lawyers Sydney - Malicious Damage - Assault - local court penalties - knife possession

Published 24 Oct 2011

Case Study –

Criminal Lawyers Sydney and Parramatta Offices

Assault Lawyers Sydney 

Criminal Offence – Criminal Matter – Aggravated Break And Enter With Intent to Commit Indictable Offence – Assault Occasioning Actual Bodily Harm – Armed With Intent to Commit and Indictable Offence – Assault - Malicious Damage –plea bargain - guilty plea – Local Court penalties – Pre-Sentence Report 

Nyman Gibson Stewart

Criminal Lawyers 

Parramatta Local Court 

Represented by Solicitor: Philip Stewart, Accredited Specialist Criminal Law 

Facts: Client left a sum of money in his girlfriend’s safe. The premises were broken into. Two days later he went to the premises and heard someone inside – nobody would open the door.  He forced entry and assaulted the occupants. 

Result: We did not act for this client until just before the sentencing date. The aggravated break and enter charge was withdrawn upon guilty pleas being entered to the remaining counts.  However, the client’s ability to speak English was imperfect and he thought that the only charge he faced was possession of a knife. 

When the client sought a second opinion, we informed him of the charges that he had pleaded guilty to.  He thought that he was going to get the matter dismissed without a conviction – the reality was that he was facing imprisonment for arming himself with a knife.  Needless to say, he was very unhappy with his former solicitor and felt that he had been mis-lead.  He had been charged a significant amount of money. 

The court ordered a pre-sentence report from the Probation and Parole Service. The client was of prior good character.  He received a community service order – whereas the Magistrate’s instinctive reaction was to consider a full time prison sentence. 

Fortunately, Philip Stewart is an accredited criminal law specialist and was able to persuade the Magistrate not to impose a full time custodial sentence.