Conviction Quashed After Successful Severity Appeal for Larceny Offence in District Court

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Our client is a young man who was charged with larceny after having stolen another person’s property valued at $4,500 from the Airport. Given the nature of the offence and the breach of trust associated with the offence, our client appeared on his own without legal representation in the Local Court getting sentenced to a 12-month Community Corrections Order with a conviction against his name. This conviction would have devastating repercussions on his current employment and future employment prospects as a qualified accountant.

He contacted our CDLA office in Sydney and we immediately lodged a severity appeal in a last effort to try to get his conviction quashed on appeal in the District Court.

Following a severity appeal hearing from the local court to the district court, a Judge could choose to either: reduce the penalty; maintain the original local court decision; or increase the penalty after a Parker warning is given.

Our senior lawyer Bashir El Kheir began preparing his case.

In preparation, Bashir diligently examined and assessed the particular circumstances surrounding the offence. By doing so, Bashir was then able to obtain further supporting evidence regarding our client’s gainful employment, his prospects of rehabilitation, the relevance of deteriorating mental health at the time of the offence, and the disproportionate impact a conviction would have on our client’s employment prospects. Ultimately, Bashir prepared a persuasive appeal bundle including written submissions which were filed with the District Court and served onto the Prosecution.

At the severity appeal hearing, the Judge carefully considered all of the well prepared evidence that our Bashir had handed up to His Honour in the district Court, including written submissions. Despite the prosecution opposing the order sought and the offence not being trivial in nature, the Judge was satisfied that our client could be granted the benefit of a non-conviction for this offence. Consequently, the District Court Judge set aside the orders made by the Local Court Magistrate, and instead imposed a 12-month Conditional Release Order, without proceeding to a conviction.

Our client was extremely relieved by this excellent outcome as he could now move on with his life, enjoy his employment prospects, and continue to financially support his family overseas without the burden of a permanent criminal conviction on his record.

Published on 29/01/2023