Our client was charged with dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage by deception and larceny as bailee. Our client sold his friend’s car for monetary gain to fund his gambling habit.
Our client admitted that he found himself in a considerable amount of debt as a result of this problem and admitted that his severe gambling habit contributed to his offending conduct.
Following vigorous negotiations with the police, we managed to secure a plea deal that withdrew the more serious charge of dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage by deception. Our client plead guilty to the larceny charge and we appeared before Sutherland Local Court for sentence. Larceny as bailee carries a maximum penalty of 5 years imprisonment and dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception carries a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment.
On sentence, we submitted that our client suffered from mental health impairments that had a bearing on his offending and lowered his moral culpability, and tendered medical evidence in support of this argument.
Our client was sentenced to a Community Corrections Order for 3 years. A condition of this order was that our client continue with counselling for his mental health impairments. Our client was extremely happy with this result as he avoided a full-time gaol sentence and this order allowed him to treat a factor which contributed to his offending.