The Court: Frankston Magistrates Court
The Lawyer: Rebecca Glew
The Charges:
The Allegations:
The client was a 24-year-old assistant manager at a retail store. He was charged with multiple counts of Theft and Obtaining Financial Advantage by Deception after an internal audit revealed a $25,000 shortfall in the company’s refund account. The client created 38 fictitious customer refund transactions. He processed fake refunds to debit cards and bank accounts under his name. He did this over three months.
The client was subsequently arrested and admitted to police in a recorded interview that he was suffering from a methamphetamine addiction during the offending period and used the funds primarily to fund his drug habit.
The client had some prior criminal history relating to dishonesty and assault offences, so he was very worried about going to prison in relation to the new matters. Our solicitor advised the client to complete Drug and Alcohol counselling, provide clean urine screens and obtain character references from both his new employer and his father.
At Court:
After reviewing the police brief of evidence, several things became clear. The client had the money directly refunded to his personal bank accounts. This meant there was a very high chance he would be caught. The offending lacked sophistication and indicated real desperation.
The client instructed our solicitor to enter guilty pleas for the offences. He had a prior criminal history, including dishonesty offences that involved minor workplace thefts. Given the breach of trust, the quantum of the theft, and the repeat nature of the offending, a custodial sentence was clearly within range for this offending. However, our solicitor made lengthy submissions to the court and tendered the supporting documents, including character references, a letter from the client’s Drug and Alcohol counsellor and multiple clean urine screens to demonstrate the client had remained drug-free.
The Outcome:
The court took the above factors into account, as well as the client’s young age, good prospects of rehabilitation and strong family support. The Magistrate imposed a Community Correction Order for two years. The client was extremely fortunate and relieved with the outcome.
