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Supreme Court of Queensland - Court of Appeal |
Last Updated: 13 April 2016
COURT OF APPEAL
FITZGERALD P
LEE J
FRYBERG J
CA No 295 of 1996
MEEHAN
v.
DUGALD ALAN JOHNSTON
BRISBANE
..DATE 11/09/96
JUDGMENT
THE PRESIDENT: This is an application for leave to appeal against sentence. The applicant pleaded guilty and was convicted on his own plea on 12 June 1996 of stealing a compact disk player the property of the complainant. The offence occurred between approximately 4 October 1995 and 18 October 1995 following which the applicant was convicted in the Brisbane Magistrates Court and fined $400. He was also ordered to pay restitution of $600 within four months with a default period of six weeks imprisonment and a conviction was recorded.
Before this Court the sole point raised by the applicant is whether or not the conviction should have been recorded and the respondent concedes that it should not.
The facts can be very briefly stated. The applicant was a tow truck driver who towed the vehicle of the complainant to a holding yard after the engine of the vehicle had caught fire. The applicant subsequently removed a compact disk player from the complainant's vehicle while it was in the holding yard and threw it away. He threw it away because although he did not have permission to do so, when he removed the player he found it was inoperative. There is no dispute about that fact, that is to say, that he threw it in an industrial waste bin. He obviously gained no benefit from the theft.
Other matters raised by the applicant in support of his application include his youth, he is 24 years of age; absence of a criminal history; plea of guilty at the earliest opportunity; good employment history; standard of education demonstrating his desire to improve himself - he was educated to senior level at school and has undertaken TAFE courses; and his willingness to offer compensation. It was correctly pointed out that the recording of a conviction in these circumstances would likely jeopardise his future employment opportunities and it was submitted and agreed that the conviction should not have been recorded.
In the circumstances it is unnecessary for the Court to say any more of the matter. I agree with the concession. In the circumstances the application should be granted, the appeal allowed and the sentence varied by deleting the order that a conviction be recorded.
LEE J: I agree. I have nothing to add.
FRYBERG J: I agree.
THE PRESIDENT: The order of the Court is:
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URL: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/qld/QCA/1996/357.html