Avoiding Prison after Stealing $129,995

No Prison for 35 year old for stealing 9,995 over 4 years – Local Court Sentence

Our client managed to avoid prison when sentenced to an intensive corrections order after pleading guilty to 19 charges of stealing up to $129,995 over a 4 year period from the Social Club Credit Union Account while in the position of a Treasurer of the Social Club for the Prince of Wales Hospital, Royal Hospital for Women and Sydney Children’s Hospital.

Our experienced team of Defence lawyers managed to convince the police to drop all 19 charges, and instead file a new charge encompassing all of the 742 unauthorised transactions over the 4 year period while she was in the high position as Treasurer.

Section 192E Crimes Act 1900 says it is an offence to dishonestly obtain financial advantage or cause disadvantage by deception. The Maximum punishment is up to 10 years imprisonment. The Local Court’s power is limited to a maximum of 2 years prison.

Her conduct involved withdrawing money from the social club account using a visa debit card in her name, online ordering of services like foxtel, vitamins, cruises and clothes for her own satisfaction. The Social Club money were from contributions made from employees who were members of the hospitals for the purposes of organising events, food, and discounts for the members.

The Magistrate was more un impressed by the fact that our client had continued to steal the money for a further 7 months after the social club committee initially questioned her about missing money.

Mr. J Singh thoroughly prepared our client’s case from guiding her in obtaining good character references, referring her to a specialist psychologist and obtaining a highly specialist psychologist report to explain her conduct and her unstable mental state at the time. Very carefully prepared submissions were delivered to the Magistrate who was eventually convinced not to send her to full time prison after our client, at her lawyer’s advice, made charity contributions.

No order was made for compensation against our client.

Quick advice from a specialist criminal lawyer allowed time to successfully negotiate with police and prepare our client’s case at an early stage so that she was later well prepared in the best possible position to maximise her chances of getting the best possible result in her situation- in this case, avoid prison. She was extremely happy with the result and it has allowed her to now move on with her life.

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