In March 2021 a burglary occurred at a school and service station near Mandurah. Sixteen hours later, police pulled over a vehicle in which our client was passenger. Police searched the car and located school equipment, and a number of sealed packets of cigarettes consistent with what was alleged to have been stolen from the service station. CCTV of the service station burglary showed the offender wearing distinctive gloves; these were also located in the car along with our client’s DNA on them.
Police charged our client with burglary and other associated charges arising from the vehicle search. We assessed the evidence and advised our client to plead not guilty. At trial, we established that the items found in the back of the car represented a small portion of what was stolen from each burglary, and that many of the packets of cigarettes in the car were not reported stolen from the burglary at all. Mid-way through trial, the prosecution realised its case was destined for doom and offered to resolve the matter by discontinuing the burglaries if our client pleaded guilty to being in possession of property reasonably suspected to have been stolen.
We accepted the proposal and obtained a considerable costs award payable by the prosecution. As our client has spent time in custody relating to the burglaries, we were able to persuade the magistrate not to impose any further punishment for all charges.