PARKER
PROSECUTION ALLEGATIONS
Your honour, the defendant was observed by an off-duty police officer in the Norwood Hotel purchasing items of jewellery, namely a pair of earrings and a string of fresh water pearls, from a woman in the front bar of the Norwood Hotel.
The woman who sold the items of jewellery is known to police.
The jewellery items were identified by the police as items stolen from a property at Kensington Gardens in December 2011.
The owner of the jewellery items has identified the necklace of fresh water pearls and the pearl earrings as her property and part of the items stolen from her home in December last year.
The earrings and the string of pearls, the subject of this charge, are the only items recovered from that burglary in December 2011.
The defendant made admissions to the police that she believed the items to have been stolen given their very cheap asking price. The items have an estimated value of $880.
DEFENCE SUBMISSIONS
Your honour, the defendant is a 29 year old woman who is employed as a mail clerk in a Government Department. She is unmarried.
She lives in a rented flat with her friend at Black Forest.
She earns approximately $48 000 a year and pays $180 per week plus food expenses and her share of the utilities. This leaves her around $80 per week in uncommitted income.
She admits she had suspicions about the items, thinking they may have been stolen.
The jewellery was to be a 60th birthday gift for her mother. Given she was short of money, the opportunity was almost too good to be true.
The defendant has no dependants.
The defendant has three prior convictions for breaking and entering as a juvenile. The defendant has no prior convictions as an adult your honour.
Form 4
Magistrates Court of South Australia
www.courts.sa.gov.au
Summary Procedure Act, 1921
Sections 101 / Court Use
date filed
Informant
Name:. THE UNDERSIGNED MEMBER OF THE POLICE FORCE
Address ADELAIDE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SECTION
Defendant
Name: PARKER, Priscilla
Address 23 WITTON STREET
Offence details
1. The Information of Police of Adelaide who on this 5th day of February 2012 states that Priscilla Parker of 23 Witton Street Black Forest on 2nd day of February 2012 at Norwood in the said State:
Received property, namely one brooch of the value of approximately $880 knowing the same to have been stolen.
Section 134 of Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935.
The informant may make application for compensation.
Other orders sought (forfeiture, compensation, additional penalty, destruction or the like – Rule 15.03)
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Date Informant Witness
(Registrar, Deputy Registrar or Justice of the Peace)
(Not required if Complainant is a Public Authority)
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Date Informant Witness
(Registrar, Deputy Registrar or Justice of the Peace)
(Not required if Complainant is a Public Authority)
Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935
134—Theft (and receiving)
(1) A person is guilty of theft if the person deals with property—
(a) dishonestly; and
(b) without the owner's consent; and
(c) intending—
(i) to deprive the owner permanently of the property; or
(ii) to make a serious encroachment on the owner's proprietary rights.
Maximum penalty:
(a) for a basic offence—imprisonment for 10years;
(b) for an aggravated offence—imprisonment for 15years.
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(5)Theft committed by receiving stolen property from another amounts to the offence of receiving but may be described either as theft or receiving in an instrument of charge and is, in any event, punishable as a species of theft.
(6) If a person is charged with receiving, the court may, if satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty of theft but not that the theft was committed by receiving stolen property from another, find the defendant guilty of theft.