Other Criminal Law
5. Theft
Authors: Staff Legal Eagle
Firm / Chambers:
Last updated: 30 Aug 2015
- Theft is a crime in all states and territories of Australia.
- Theft is the dishonest appropriation (taking) of property belonging to another person with the intention of permanently depriving them of it.
- Examples of theft include:
- stealing a lady’s handbag while she isn’t looking;
- finding someone’s wallet in the street and keeping it; or
- shoplifting from a store while the attendant is not looking.
- Some types of theft amount to fraudulent conduct. For more information see our Fraud topic.
- In order to prove theft the prosecution must prove:
- that the accused person appropriated (took) property belonging to another person;
- that the accused person intended to permanently deprive the other person of the property; and
- the accused appropriated (took) the property dishonestly.
- Property includes the following:
- money;
- real property such as real estate or land;
- personal property such as cars or jewellery; and
- things with no physical existence such as debts.
- An intention to permanently deprive means that the accused person intended that the owner would never get the property back. It is different to borrowing an item with the genuine intention of giving it back.
- Obtaining property dishonestly means that the accused person knew that they were not legally entitled to the property at the time they took it.
- Taking property will not be dishonest if the accused person believed that they had a legal right to the property. This is also known as a claim of legal right. A claim of moral right such as a belief that the property should be yours is not sufficient.
- Each state and territory and the Commonwealth has their own criminal laws which set out the elements of theft.
- There are further offences that may apply to people who deal with goods that have been stolen. These offences apply even if the person who is handling the goods was not the original thief. They are:
- being in possession of property reasonably suspected of having been stolen;
- handling stolen goods; and
- receiving stolen goods.
- Another form of theft is robbery. Robbery occurs where a person commits a theft and before or during the theft the accused person:
- threatens to or does use force on the victim or another person; and
- does so in order to commit the theft.
- Armed robbery is where a robbery is committed and the accused is armed with:
- a firearm;
- an imitation firearm;
- an offensive weapon;
- an explosive; or
- an imitation explosive.
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