Over 50 years of combined experience

Success in Courts Australia-Wide

5 x Convenient Locations across Sydney and NSW

Have you been charged with a criminal offence?

Our criminal lawyers have taken the time to compile information on a range of common criminal offences and some not so common ones.

Click on the links below to find out what the police have to prove to establish your guilt, what defences can be raised, and what the maximum penalties are that a court can impose.

Have a read through and begin to understand what your legal options are.

Remember if you have a question about a particular offence or what the police are alleging against you, you can contact our solicitors for advice by phone on our 24 hour phone line, make a website enquiry directly to our office.

Case Study - Section 10 bond for having cannabis in system

Our client was charged with driving with a illicit drug in her blood. This is a serious charge which carries a 6 months disqualification upon conviction. Furthermore our client was on her provisional licence and had her child in the vehicle at the time of the offence.

Our client instructed our firm that a disqualification would have a detrimental effect on her family life, particularly on her child who was required to attend regularly medical treatment.

Furthermore medical evidence was presented regarding our clients need to drive her child to medical appointments. It was further argued our clients good character and remorse would enable the court to be lenient on this occasion and not record a conviction

The court agreed and placed our client a bond pursuant to Section 10. No conviction meant no penalty or disqualification.

Case Study - Driving Under the Influence of Cannabis – Drug did not impair driving

Our client was charged with driving under the influence of drugs (cannabis).

The police Facts Sheet stated that our client smoked cannabis at 5:30 am then drove at 12 pm of the same day.

Whilst driving, our client had an accident in which he sustained injuries. Upon being stopped by police our client was breath tested and returned a reading of 0.00. He was conveyed to hospital for his injuries and was observed by police having blood shot eyes and being ‘dazed, drowsy, and with slow speech’.

This prompted police to question our client about his cannabis use, to which he admitted to having used that morning.

A blood test revealed our client had present delta-9-THC less than 0.005mg per letre of blood and delta 9-THC- acid 0.026 mg per letre of blood.

Our solicitors obtained expert evidence from a psychologist that found the level of cannabis in our client’s blood could not have impaired our clients driving ability. In light of this evidence, we advised our client to plead not guilty and take the matter to hearing.

At the Downing Centre Local Court hearing before Magistrate Gilmour, the prosecution submitted expert evidence that our client was influenced by THC to the extent that his ability to drive was affected. Our solicitor submitted our psychologists report giving evidence contrary to the prosecution. The conflicting expert evidence was enough to cast reasonable doubt over the issue.

Her Honour found our client not guilty. An excellent result achieved by our dedicated solicitors.

Case Study - Drive whilst under the influence of drugs, namely cannabis. Section 10.

Our client appeared at Downing Centre Local Court charged with driving whilst under the influence of a prohibited drug. He came before the Court as a young man with a terrible traffic record, having been suspended 9 times in the short time he held a licence and having 13 speeding fines on his record.

Our client had a special need for a licence and showed he could change his ways having committed no offences since his last suspension other than the offence which brought him before the Court and having completed the traffic offender Program.

Our solicitors managed to negotiate the facts with the Police and with a well prepared case was sentenced to a good behaviour bond with no conviction and no disqualification for a period of twelve months.

Case Study - 4 years jail for involvement in importation of 585kg of Methamphetamine - Sydney District Court

Our client was charged for his role in importing a commercial quantity of a prohibited drug, being 585kg of Methamphetamine. He was also charged with the supply of 47g of methamphetamine, as a separate charge.

This was the largest ever recorded importation of methamphetamine in Australia’s history.

The offence carries a maximum term of imprisonment of life.

Our client was 21 years old at the time of the offence, and was recruited by others to participate in the movement of the drugs from the warehouse, upon them arriving in Australia. He was clearly a person who had a minor role in the offence and had little control over the enterprise and its operations.

He was recruited to undertake certain tasks, to enable those above him to keep a distance from detection.

Adam from our office fought hard to establish a strong case for leniency for our client, and was successful in establishing many mitigating circumstances that would lessen the overall jail term.

The case appeared before Sweeney J, in Sydney District Court in June 2014.

Our client was sentenced to a non-parole period of 4 years imprisonment.

An extraordinary result for an extremely serious charge.

Case Study - Cannabis in system, client escapes conviction

Our client instructed our firm that a disqualification would have a detrimental effect on her family life, particularly on her child who was required to attend regularly medical treatment.

The matter proceeded before Magistrate Swaine at Fairfield. Our solicitor argued that our client had smoked cannabis a number of days prior to the offence and was not aware that cannabis can last in the blood for up to six weeks. Furthermore medical evidence was presented regarding our clients need to drive her child to medical appointments.

It was further argued our client’s good character and remorse would enable the court to be lenient on this occasion and not record a conviction

The court agreed and placed our client a bond pursuant to Section 10. No conviction meant no penalty or disqualification.

Case Study - Mid Range Drink Driving – Section 10 - Primary Carer of Ill Mother

Our client was charged with a Mid Range PCA driving offence. Her blood alcohol concentration was 0.095. This offence carries heavy fines, an automatic period of disqualification for 12 months and a possible prison sentence.

It was essential for our client to keep her licence as she had three children in school and needed to drive them a considerable distance to school from her home.

She was also the sole carer of her mother who suffered from bipolar disorder. Her mother was heavily reliant upon our client to take her to medical appointments and treatment for her illness.

We advised our client that attending the Traffic Offenders Program would greatly assist her case, which she attended to diligently.

In May 2013 our client came before Magistrate Scherr at Burwood Local Court. Our solicitors submitted to the Court details of our client’s circumstances and evidence that she had completed the Traffic Offenders Program.

Our client received a Section 10(1)(b) bond for a period of 6 months. This meant that our client could continue driving without a penalty or a criminal record and did not receive any disqualification for committing the offence.

It also meant that our client’s criminal and traffic record remained clean. An excellent result for our client

Case Study - Drink Driving 0.12 Reading

Our client was charged with drink drinking, with a reading of 0.12. Our client was a truck driver who needed his license for work and being the sole provider for his family, we argued that his family would also suffer if he lost his licence.

Because our client could not speak English, he was unable to undertake the traffic offenders program.

Our Traffic and Drink Driving Lawyer appeared at Fairfield Local Court and was able to successfully argue for a Section 10, even though our client couldn’t undertake the traffic offenders program and the reading was on the higher end of the Mid- Range.

The court accepted there was extenuating circumstances and accepted that our client’s need for a licence and very good traffic record outweighed the need to record a conviction.

Our client received no penalty at all, and got his licence back from the court there and then

Case Study - Bail granted for serious Show Cause offence

Our client was arrested by Police in breach of bail, when his partner made allegations against him stating he had assaulted her and he had threatened her with a gun. Police attended the premises and found a rifle hidden in the garden and found a several other gun parts.

Despite all odds, our solicitor obtained bail. In order to do so, she had to show new circumstances, as a prior application had been made, she then had to show cause under the new bail act, and satisfy the magistrate that he was not an unacceptable risk.

To achieve this, our solicitor’s preparation was key. She contacted witnesses and obtained statements which were crucial to the success of the application, enabling us to challenge the Crown case and show it was weak and our client’s detention was not justified.

Bail was granted by Magistrate McGlynn at Parramatta Local Court in early March 2015.

Case Study - Serious Offences Bail Application

Our client was charged with serious offences of Supplying a Large Commercial Quantity of Prohibited Drug (approximately 2kg).His bail application in Burwood Local Court was refused.

We proceeded to the Supreme Court of NSW, where another application for bail was made on his behalf in June 2012.

After a 2 day hearing, our client was granted strict conditional bail. Our team successfully argued the following points:

It would be not for another 12-18 months that our client’s case would go to trial, and if bail refused, he would have to wait this long in jail for his case to be heard.
Despite the seriousness of the charge, there was no suggestion that he would leave the country or flee to avoid facing these charges.
He had strong community ties and his family all in Australia.
The prosecution case was a weak one, and there was some chance of him being acquitted of the charges.

Our client is now free to properly prepare his case and challenge the charges that have been put against him

Case Study - Breach AVO/Section 10/Defending and AVO - Section 10 for breaching AVO 100 times

Our client had an AVO in place against him that included that he not contact the victim by any means.

During the course of the AVO period, it was alleged that our client breached the AVO more than 100 times, by sending harassing emails to the victim.

We negotiated with the prosecution to reduce the number of emails sent to the victim, ultimately reducing the number of breaches to 40. Our client then pleaded guilty to an amended set of facts.

The matter appeared before Magistrate Holdsworth at Liverpool Local Court in May 2015. Our client’s case was diligently prepared with supporting evidence to argue his Section 10 application. This included character witness evidence, those of who also attended court on the day of sentencing. Also was evidence of overseas work travel, that which would not be possible if with a criminal conviction.

Ms. Holdsworth agreed with our submission, and proceeded to place our client on a Section 10 good behaviour bond.

Case Study - Intention not proved

Our client was charged with the offence of common assault.

His wife had alleged that our client kicked her in the stomach during a heated argument. Our client denied these allegations, saying that the contact he made was accidental and non-intentional. Our client then pleaded not guilty and the matter proceeded to a defended hearing.

Our solicitor vigorously cross-examined the alleged victim about her version of events.

Our client also gave evidence regarding his version of events. After hearing all the evidence the court found that the prosecution failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that our client had intentionally kicked his wife in the stomach, as alleged by the prosecution.

Our client was found not guilty and remains criminal conviction free.

Criminal Defence Solicitors & Lawyers In Sydney

We Fight to Win Your Case

A high rate of success in all types of criminal charges.

We Fight to Win Your Case

Have you been charged with a criminal offence?

Case Study - Section 10 bond for having cannabis in system

Case Study - Driving Under the Influence of Cannabis – Drug did not impair driving

Case Study - Drive whilst under the influence of drugs, namely cannabis. Section 10.

Case Study - 4 years jail for involvement in importation of 585kg of Methamphetamine - Sydney District Court

Case Study - Cannabis in system, client escapes conviction

Case Study - Mid Range Drink Driving – Section 10 - Primary Carer of Ill Mother

Case Study - Drink Driving 0.12 Reading

Case Study - Bail granted for serious Show Cause offence

Case Study - Serious Offences Bail Application

Case Study - Breach AVO/Section 10/Defending and AVO - Section 10 for breaching AVO 100 times

Case Study - Intention not proved

Achieving results one case at a time

Achieving results one case at a time

Achieving results one case at a time

Achieving results one case at a time

Achieving results one case at a time

Achieving results one case at a time

Achieving results one case at a time

Achieving results one case at a time

Achieving results one case at a time

Criminal Law