Aggravated Burglary and Armed Robbery

This is a case of Aggravated Burglary and Armed Robbery resulting in a withdrawal of all the charges.

What is alleged to have occured?
Our young Sudanese client from Western suburbs was charged with aggravated burglaries in the Sunshine and Footscray area. The police alleged that he was with company when he had stormed into a number of properties with weapons and committed aggravated burglary offences because people were at home. The complainants could only describe the offenders as being tall, black, and male.

The police brief was extensive but contained minimal circumstantial evidence to place our client at the scenes. Throughout the negotiation processes, they had maintained that it was in the interest of public policy to continue to prosecute our client because of the seriousness of the charges.

What happened at court?
We represented the client at the Sunshine Children’s Court on the charges of:

What was the result? Ultimately, the prosecution withdrew all the charges. We put our position firmly to the prosecution making it clear that the brief was lacking with any direct evidence and that they did not have witnesses who appeared reliable or who have a consistent version of events.
DISCLAIMER: This is a real case study of an actual case from our files. Details pertaining to the client have been changed to protect their privacy. The sentence imposed and the charge have not been altered. These case studies are published to demonstrate real outcomes and give an indication of possible tariffs in Court. We do not guarantee a similar case on these charges will get the same result. Please note that we post results at our discretion, therefore while many case studies are average results, others are notable for their exceptional outcomes. PUBLISHED 06/02/2018