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Forgery – s 144.1 Commonwealth Criminal Code

Charged with a forgery offence can effect your career and travel plans. This causes significant stress which an experienced specialist fraud lawyer can assist in guiding you down the best path to maximise your chances at avoiding a criminal record and proving your innocence. Our Sydney team of fraud specialist lawyers focus, and have successfully convinced police to drop fraud charges early countless times for over 20 years.

Call us now on (02) 8606 2218 to book a free first consultation with an experienced Fraud Defence Lawyer.

Your Options in Court

There are 4 different scenarios or types of this offence noted below. You can only be found guilty of the commonwealth offence of forgery if police can prove each of the elements under your charge:

If charged with s144.1(1):

  • You made a false document; and
  • You did this with the intention to dishonestly influence a third person, in their capacity as a commonwealth public official, to accept it as truthful; and
  • It was accepted as truthful; and
  • You did this with the intention to dishonestly obtain a gain or caused a loss, or influence the exercise of a public function.

If charged with s144.1(3):

  • You made a false document; and
  • You did this with the intention to dishonestly cause a computer to respond to it as being genuine; and
  • The computer responded to it as being genuine; and
  • You did this with the intention to dishonestly obtain a gain, or cause a loss, or influence the exercise of a public function; and
  • The response by the computer was in relation to the operations of a commonwealth entity

If charged with s144.1(5):

  • You made a false document; and
  • You did this with the intention to dishonestly influence a third person to accept it as truthful; and
  • It was accepted as truthful; and
  • You did this with the intention to dishonestly obtain a gain, cause a loss, or influence the exercise of a public function; and
  • The false document is a false commonwealth document

If charged with s144.1(7):

  • You made a false document; and
  • You did this with the intention to dishonestly cause a computer to respond to it as being genuine; and
  • The computer responded to it as being genuine; and
  • You did this with the intention to dishonestly obtain a gain, cause a loss, or influence the exercise of a public function; and
  • The false document is a false commonwealth document

You will be found not guilty and your forgery charged dismissed in court if police can’t prove each of the elements of your charge beyond reasonable doubt.

Defences to this charge

You are Not Guilty if:

  • Honest and reasonable mistake of fact: where you honestly believed the document was genuine and truthful, and it was reasonable to have held that belief in the circumstances.
  • The document was not accepted as truthful, nor responded to as genuine by the third person or a computer.
  • Duress or Necessity: where you were threatened or coerced to commit the offence.

You will be found not guilty and your forgery charge dismissed if any of the above common defences apply to your case. To begin preparing to strengthen your best defence, speak to an expert fraud specialist lawyer now. Our senior fraud lawyers have successfully convinced police to dropped fraud charges early on many occasions for over 20 years.

Call us now on (02) 8606 2218.

If you decide to plead guilty to a forgery offence, see the below critically important tips and information on how to best prepare and present your case to the Judge to maximise your chances at avoiding a criminal record and prison.

25% Discount on punishment

Pleading guilty to an offence of forgery at the earliest time in your case will automatically land you a discount of up to 25% on your punishment the Judge gives. The later the plea of guilty is entered, the less the discount becomes. An early plea of guilty can also reflects your remorse in the Judge’s eyes. This all results in a much better, lighter outcome in court.

For those reasons, it’s important to get the right advice as early as possible in your case to avoid missing out on getting a better result. Speak to an experienced specialist fraud lawyer.

Good character references

Well written good character reference letters can improve your court result with a much lighter punishment from the Judge reading them. For the Judge to consider reducing the punishment, it’s critical that each letter expresses your good character, remorse, insight and shame.

These letters can come from you as an apology, your family, friend, employer or colleague and charity. Our senior lawyers will review each one and guide you through the process.

Negotiate to drop charges

By getting an experienced fraud specialist lawyer to carefully review the police evidence, and point out the holes in it to police, you can sometimes convince police through extensive negotiations to drop or downgrade the charge early.

Our senior lawyers have successfully convinced police to drop fraud charges on many number of occasions over the years. They are specialists in getting charges dropped early.

Negotiate facts

By pointing out all the problems in the police evidence, an experienced specialist fraud lawyer can, and our senior lawyers often do, convince police to change the set of police facts which you are pleading guilty to. By changing these facts, you can be placed in a much better light at the time the Judge reads what you did and how you did it. This often causes the Judge to give a much lighter punishment.

The police usually draft the set of facts which often is one sided, inaccurate, making you look worse than it is. This often results in a heavier punishment which is why it’s important to object to this happening.

Psychologist reports

Getting a court report from an experienced leading psychologist or psychiatrist referred by an experienced fraud lawyer can significantly improve your court outcome with a much better chance at avoiding conviction and prison.

For best possible results, the report should comment on your state of mind at the time, your remorse and insight, setting a background to your offending conduct. All this allows the Judge reading it to give further leniency. Our senior lawyers use leading experts for this who are highly respected by the Judges.

Maximum penalty

The maximum punishment for an offence of forgery is a term of imprisonment of up to 10 years prison. Do not be too alarmed though, the Judges reserve the maximum punishment for only the most serious of cases. It is rarely given. See below for other options the Judges have.

Types of penalties

The Judge can give you any one of the following types of punishment at his or her disposal. The one chosen will depend largely on the preparation and presentation of your case as explained on the above points:

  1. Section 10 Dismissal
  2. Conditional Release Order
  3. Fine
  4. Community Correction Order
  5. Intensive Correction Order
  6. Full Time Imprisonment

If charged with forgery, speak to one of our highly experienced Sydney fraud specialist lawyers for realistic and practical advice on your case. As highly respected leaders in fraud cases, they will tirelessly work on your case to maximise your chances at getting the best possible outcome in and out of court.

Call us now on (02) 8606 2218 to book a free first consultation with an experienced Fraud Defence Lawyer.