Damage Property Charges – Geelong Magistrates Court
- Section 197(1) Crimes Act 1958 – maximum penalty 10 years imprisonment.
Facts:
Our client was a 25 year old man who had been celebrating at his local pub for his birthday. During the evening he advised us that he had been drinking excessively and was intoxicated. At approximately 4:20am he was his way home with a group of friends (two other males and a female). He had intended to grab some food from 7/11 and make his way home.
Our client and his friends cut through a shopping centre car park. CCTV footage reveals our client screaming and running around with shopping trollies in the underground car park. Security officers then attend the scene and observe our client running into a barrier reel strap and stretching it until it snaps. They approach him, ask him for identification and he refuses to comply. The police are then called, attend the scene and arrest our client. Our client was cooperative with the police and made full admissions to the offending.
Result:
After considering the charge and the brief we noted that our client had one previous matter in court ( a drink driving matter), he however had no criminal history with the courts. In our view the charges had been made out based on the eye witness and CCTV evidence and our client making full admissions to the offending. However, in the circumstances we were of the view that the matter would be suitable for diversion for the following reasons:
- The matter would be heard in the Magistrates court
- The offending did not have a minimum or fixed sentence or penalty
- Our client had only one prior ( for a drink driving matter)
- Our client made full admissions to the offending and was cooperative with the police
The informant in this case agreed to recommend our client for diversion and we attended Court with our client to assist him in the interview with the diversion coordinator. We prepared our client for the interview and the likely questions that he would be asked. We also assisted our client in obtaining character references which could be provided to the magistrate for consideration.
Our client was fortunate to be offered diversion by the Court with the conditions to donate $150.00 to Anglicare and to pay $200.00 to the victim. Diversion is never guaranteed and is assessed on a case by case basis, so this was an extremely good result considering this was not the clients first court appearance and that our client was also very concerned about having a criminal conviction (record) which he avoided.
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