New South Wales Consolidated Acts

CRIMES ACT 1900 - SECT 527C

527C Persons unlawfully in possession of property

(1) Any person who--

(a) has any thing in his or her custody,

(b) has any thing in the custody of another person,

(c) has any thing in or on premises, whether belonging to or occupied by himself or herself or not, or whether that thing is there for his or her own use or the use of another, or

(d) gives custody of any thing to a person who is not lawfully entitled to possession of the thing,

which thing may be reasonably suspected of being stolen or otherwise unlawfully obtained, is liable on conviction before the Local Court--

(a) if the thing is a motor vehicle or a motor vehicle part, or a vessel or a vessel part, to imprisonment for 1 year, or to a fine of 10 penalty units, or both, or

(b) in the case of any other thing, to imprisonment for 6 months, or to a fine of 5 penalty units, or both.

(1A) A prosecution for an offence under subsection (1) involving the giving of custody of a motor vehicle to a person who is not lawfully entitled to possession of the motor vehicle may be commenced at any time within 2 years after the date of commission of the offence.

(2) It is a sufficient defence to a prosecution for an offence under subsection (1) if the defendant satisfies the court that he or she had no reasonable grounds for suspecting that the thing referred to in the charge was stolen or otherwise unlawfully obtained.

(3) In this section--

"motor vehicle" has the same meaning as it has in Division 5A of Part 4.

"premises" includes any structure, building, vehicle, vessel or place, whether built on or not, and any part of any such structure, building, vehicle, vessel or place.

"vessel" means a vessel within the meaning of the Marine Safety Act 1998 .