Burglary Offences

What To Do When Charged With A Burglary Offence

Burglary means a person enters a place, without the owner’s consent, with intent to commit an offence while in that place. For example, if you break into someone’s house in order to steal their TV, then that is a burglary.

Burglary can become more serious if one or more of the circumstances of aggravation are present:

• if you are armed or pretend to be armed with a weapon
• If you are in possession or pretending to be in possession of explosive substance
• If you are with other people who are breaking in with you or helping you
• Causing bodily harm to the owner or occupier while inside
• Threatening to kill or injure the owner or occupier
• Detaining any person inside
• If you know or ought to have known that someone was inside (for example, if the owner or occupier was home during the burglary)

Depending on the circumstances of the burglary, your matter can be heard in either the Magistrates Court or the District Court. Burglary lawyers can assist you with this.

If you are charged with burglary, the Prosecution must prove the following:

1. That you entered or were inside the place of another person
2. That you did not have the consent of that person to be there
3. That you intended on committing an offence OR that you actually did commit an offence while in that place.

Consent to enter or be in the place of another person must be given freely and voluntarily, and cannot be obtained through threats or fraud. This means that if you get consent to enter someone’s house, but you got it by lying to them or tricking them, then you do not have actual consent (e.g. if you pretend to be a technician who has come to fix something, you but just want to get inside to steal something, then you do not have consent).

Our Perth-based lawyers at Chambers Legal are experienced in burglary cases and can advise you about the charge and what the maximum penalty is, represent you in court, advise you about what defence you may have and about what the potential consequences of being found guilty may be.

Many burglary charges can result in imprisonment, so it is important to speak to a Perth criminal lawyer about your burglary charge, and obtain some advice specific to your case.