Our client was at home in his backyard having drinks and catching up with a mate, when a mutual friend arrived in her car and joined them.
At some point during the night, she asked our client if she could borrow a bag, and our client directed her to go inside and grab whatever.
A short time later, she told our client that she was going to go for a drive, by that time, everyone was hungry and asked to for a lift to get some food. In his haste to leave, our client turned back towards the house to fetch his bag and wallet. Our client noticed that she was carrying his bag, she told him his wallet was inside it, and she placed the bag in the passenger footwell where our client was seated.
They all piled into a car and were stopped by police a minute later. Our client’s bag was searched, with Police not only finding his wallet, but over $43,000 in cash. His DNA was also found on the elastic bands allegedly used to secure bundles of the cash. The female driver denied any knowledge of the cash. Our client was charged with unlawful possession of the cash and frankly, things did not look good for him.
He came to us two days before his intended trial, having lost faith in the lawyer he had engaged to defend him. We adjourned the trial date by consent and immediately commenced preparing material in support of a submission to discontinue the charge. This involved very careful analysis of the search of the car and questioning by police, body worn camera footage, forensic report and the recording of the cash count in the police evidence room. The prosecution accepted our client’s account of the events leading up to the finding of the cash and our contention that it was not possible to prove which of the elastic bands with our client’s DNA were actually used to secure the bundles of cash (and there was an alternative hypothesis for the finding of our client’s DNA on them). Before the next court date, the prosecution agreed to discontinue the charge, and our client was successful in securing a full costs award.
