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Robbery – s 94 Crimes Act

Charged with an offence of robbery is extremely stressful, potentially turning your entire life around. Our criminal defence lawyers have successfully won some of the most complex robbery charges in Australian history, securing not guilty verdicts, and getting charges dropped early for over 20 years on countless occasions.

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

Your Options in Court

You can only be guilty to this offence if police can prove each of the following elements of the charge you are faced with in court, beyond a reasonable doubt:

Where the offence is ‘robbery’:

  • You took property from the victim; and
  • You intended to steal it; and
  • You put the victim in fear, or used violence.

Where the offence is assault with intent to rob:

  • You assaulted the victim; and
  • You intended to steal property from the victim or another person; and
  • You put the victim in fear, or used violence.

Where your offence is stealing from the person:

  • The victim had a chattel, money or valuable security on himself or herself; and
  • At that time, you stole that from him/her.

Your charge will be dismissed, and you will be not guilty if police are unable to prove each of the above elements of the particular charge you face.

Defences to this charge

You will be Not Guilty if:

  • Claim of right: You believed you were entitled to the property.
  • The threat of violence did not coincide with the theft of the property i.e. Any use of force was used after the property was taken.
  • Mental illness defence: Where you were suffering a mental illness at the time, and because of this you were not aware of what you were doing, whether your actions were right or wrong, or you didn’t know the nature of what you were doing.
  • Intoxication: Where you were soo intoxicated that you didn’t have the intention to steal.
  • Mistaken identity.
  • Self defence.
  • Duress or Necessity: Where you were threatened to do it, or did it to avoid serious harm.

Your charge will be dismissed if any of the above defences to robbery apply to your case.

Speak to an experienced criminal defence lawyer for realistic and practical advice on your best possible defence. Our senior lawyers are specialists in getting charges dropped early. They hold a proven success record of achieving this, and securing not guilty verdicts in court for over 2 decades.

Call us now on (02) 8606 2218 to book a free first consultation.

If pleading guilty to robbery, see the below points on how to best prepare, to maximise your chances at getting the best possible outcome. Call our team of senior lawyer for guidance now on (02) 8606 2218.

25% Discount on punishment

Pleading guilty at the earliest time to robbery will get you a discount of up to 25% on punishment. This results in a more lenient outcome.

The later the plea of guilty is entered, the smaller that discount gets. This is why its critical to speak to an experienced expert lawyer as early as possible.

Good character references

This is a letter the Judge will read, which should express your remorse, good character, insight and shame. It should come from family, friends, charity, work, and a letter of apology from you. Done properly, it can allow the Judge to further reduce your punishment.

Our team of senior lawyers will guide you in this process.

Negotiate to drop charges

By carefully looking into the police evidence, picking all the holes in it, and using this to then tactfully approach police to negotiate, your chances of getting the charges dropped or downgraded early are significantly increased.

Our team of senior lawyers are leaders in this field, and specialise in getting charges dropped early. They hold an exceptional proven track record in getting this done.

Negotiate facts

The police set of facts is a document read by the Judge who then decides on your punishment. It’s initially drafted by police, and can sound very one sided, reflecting you in the worst possible way. This often results in a much heavier punishment.

Because this document reflects what you plead guilty to in detail of, how, where, and when you did this, its important to negotiate this with police to change it, in order to reflect you in a more favourable way to the Judge reading it. This will likely result in a much more lenient outcome in court. Our team often change their clients set of facts to ensure its fair.

Psychologist reports

Getting a court report from a highly respected psychologist or psychiatrist for the Judge to read can significantly improve your court result, giving a much more lenient punishment.

To achieve this, you should ensure their report covers your mental state at the time, remorse, shame, insight into your conduct, and explanation, not justification for your offence. Our senior lawyers will choose the perfect expert to your case.

Maximum penalty

The maximum punishment for robbery is a term of imprisonment of up to 14 years.

Where the offence is ‘stealing from the person’, and the value of the stolen property is over $5,000, the maximum punishment is a term of imprisonment of up to 2 years if dealt with in the Local Court. The maximum is 1 year imprisonment and/or $5,500 fine where the value of the stolen property is less than $5,000.

Where the value of the stolen property is less than $2,000, the maximum punishment is imprisonment of up to 2 years and/or $2,200 fine.

If your offence of robbery is in ‘circumstances of aggravation’, the maximum punishment is a term of imprisonment of up to 20 years.

‘Circumstances of aggravation’ include any one or more of the following:

  • You use violence on a person
  • You intentionally or recklessly inflicted actual bodily harm on a person
  • You deprived a person of his/her liberty

Those maximum punishments are rarely given by Judges, and are only given to the most serious cases.

The courts have developed a guideline case (Henry’s case) which says, generally, in the common case an offender should receive a term of imprisonment of between 4-5 years. But the courts look at many other factors when deciding on punishment, whether you have prior convictions, drug habit, vulnerability, degree of planning, extent of your role, your rehabilitation etc.

Types of penalties

The Judge can give you any of the following types of punishment for robbery, which depends on the above points in the way you prepare and present your case:

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

Speak to our team of leading criminal defence lawyers for realistic and practical guidance on your robbery charge. They hold a proven track record of exceptional results for over two decades in specialising in complex robbery cases.

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