Our client’s association with negative peer influences led to embroilment in a police investigation and search of his house, the outcome of which was several charges including burglary as the most serious in terms of potential consequences. As the father of a young child, our client was terrified at the prospect of being imprisoned.
Our client accepted he had been involved in the burglary, however, denied that he had caused damage to force entry to the premises. The premises had been unoccupied and not secured for weeks, such that our client believed it to be abandoned. On reviewing the disclosure materials, we identified that the property owner’s statement expanded the window of opportunity for the damage observed by police over a total period of two months, as well as forensic reports connecting several additional persons of interest to the potential damage to gain entry into the premises. In light of this evidence, the prosecution accepted our client’s position that he did not force entry into the premises and believed it to be abandoned at the time he took property from within it.
Our client was sentenced to an intensive supervision order, avoiding his greatest fear of imprisonment and allowing him to remain in his son’s life serving his punishment in the community.
