Our client was a young tradie who provided a quote for a job to a customer. The customer accepted the quote and mistakenly transferred $10,000 into our clients bank account instead of the required $1,000 deposit. The job was cancelled and the customer requested the return of monies transferred.
Unfortunately, our client did not return the overpayment immediately and was unable to do so for some months, having fallen into financial difficulty. By the time our client was subsequently charged with stealing, he had only been able to repay $2,000.
On his first court date, our client was represented by a duty lawyer who advised him to plead guilty and adjourn the matter for a few weeks as he was facing a term of imprisonment upon conviction. Fortunately, a plea of guilty was not entered and we were engaged to provide legal advice. We conducted research into the matter and formed the view the mistaken overpayment did not constitute the criminal offence of stealing, and advised our client to return the remaining $8,000 to the customer along with a written apology. We made a submission to the prosecution to discontinue the charge on two grounds: Firstly, that there was no reasonable prospect of securing a conviction on the basis that there was no offence in law, and secondly, that there was no public interest in proceeding with a prosecution in circumstances where the overpayment had been returned. The prosecution agreed and on the next court date, discontinued the charge of stealing against our client
