State Offences

Abuse of office offences cover a range of offences, under criminal law and corporate law, including:

• Bribery, being a person who either promises, offers or suggests a reward to induce conduct or a person who gives, takes or seeks a reward in place of conduct. A ‘reward’ means any form of property or any kind of advantage or benefit. 
• Corruption, being an offence committed by any public officer who without lawful authority acts upon knowledge obtained through his office and acts corruptly during his duties and gains a benefit. 
• Perjury, is the act of a person in a judicial proceeding who knowingly gives false testimony 
• Attempt to pervert the course of justice, being any person who attempts to obstruct, prevent, pervert of defeat the course of justice.
• Forging and uttering, being any forgery or a record or uttering of a forged record.

There are a variety of assault offences ranging in severity, including:

• Common assault, being any non-consensual application of force to another person.
• Assault occasioning bodily harm, being an assault that results in ‘bodily harm’, which can be as minor as bruising or an injury which causes discomfort;
• Wounding, being an assault which results in the opening of a person’s skin (i.e., any cut resulting in bleeding).
• Assaulting a public officer or a person in a specified vocation, being an assault against particular persons protected by legislation such as police officers, paramedics, security guards and hospital, public service or aircraft staff. These assaults carry more significant penalties and sometimes mandatory minimum custodial sentences. 
• Grievous bodily harm, being an assault which results in a permanent disfiguration or injury to the victim, or which caused an injury capable of threatening their life.

The prosecution’s particularisation of the assault and your relation to the alleged victim can also change the nature of the offence, escalating its severity by possibly classifying it as an ‘aggravated’ offence. Examples of circumstances which will aggravate the offence include being in the company of others during the assault, being in a familial or domestic relationship with the victim, or certain motivations such as racism or prejudice (‘hate crimes’). 

No matter the nature of your alleged involvement in an assault charge, our lawyers can help. Whether you are fully disputing the matter, want to negotiate a lesser charge or contest the prosecution’s particularisation of the incident, our lawyers can guide you through the process to ensure the best possible resolution of your matter.

Obstructing a public officer can be a serious offence. A ‘Public officer’ can be any police officer, Minister of the Crown, transport officer, or any person exercising authority under written law. 

• Obstructing Public Officer, is to prevent, hinder and resist a public officer, whilst that officer is performing his duty. This can include things such as ignoring a public officers request to move aside or any other orders. 
• Rioting is a serious offence when three or more persons, with the same intent, assemble and conduct themselves in a manner which causes fear or disturbs the peace. Aggravating factors to the rioting offences include; when criminal damage occurs, or fires start. 

If you have been charged with an obstruction offence, our office is prepared to assist you. Contact our office to discuss the matter further.

State police charge people for drug offences under the Misuse of Drugs Act, which deals with all offences from possession to distribution. It is important to note the prescribed limits of possession after which it is presumed that a person was possessing the substance with the intent to sell or supply it to another. 

Disputing the intention of your possession can be crucial to the characterisation of the offence, and with it the corresponding penalties and ability to apply for a spent conviction. If seeking to dispute the nature of your drug possession or otherwise mitigate the impact of a drug matter on your future, contact our office for a more fulsome discussion of your case.

Murder is the most serious form of charge for causing the death of another person, and will be levied where the accused is alleged to have either:

1. intended to have killed or endangered the life of the deceased or another person; or
2. caused the death through a dangerous act committed in pursuit of an unlawful purpose (i.e., breaking the law in some other form, such as whilst committing a robbery or dealing drugs).

For complicated offences such as murder, we recommend retaining a managing solicitor to instruct a supervising barrister to ensure a diligent and thorough consideration of every aspect of your defence. Our firm’s structure and relationships with leading barristers allows for a seamless, multi-faceted approach to your matter, either completely inhouse or with an external barrister of your choosing. Contact our office for further discussion of trial management, barrister selection and pricing. 

Unlawfully killing someone without the same level of criminal intent will result in a charge of manslaughter.

A property offence is the umbrella term for any non-consensual interference with the property of another person. These range from the most minor instances of stealing to multi-million dollar fraud. Our team has successfully represented clients across the entire spectrum of these offences, considering none too minor or too great.

• Robbery
  Robbery is the threat or use of violence to obtain a thing that is being stolen, whether directly or in response to any resistance to the theft.
• Burglary
  Burglary is the trespass in the home of another person in combination with another offence, most typically stealing. The ‘three strike rule’ requires that an adult offender upon their third burglary conviction must be sentenced to a minimum of two years’ imprisonment. Aggravated burglary, which may include a burglary that involves in a particularly personally intrusive secondary offence (i.e., any sexual offence) or that is committed whilst the occupants are home is a higher offence.
• Stealing
  The seriousness and penalty applicable to stealing varies according to the total value of the items stolen. The meaning of ‘steal’ is incredibly broad, effectively covering any impermissible or non-consensual taking of another person’s personal property.
• Fraud
  Fraud is the term used to encapsulate any method by which a person deceptively gains a benefit which does not belong to them – this circumvents needing to prove the physical taking of an item and so is most commonly used to prosecute the taking of assets or money via non-physical means, today most commonly electronically. For example, using another person’s credit card or transferring funds from one’s employer to a personal account are both forms of fraud.

Our team has experience in dealing with all forms of fraud, from petty offences stemming from finding someone else’s card on a night out, to long term, complex and concealed syphoning of funds without consent.

Police are able to charge people for certain behaviour in public, including public drinking, urination or fighting, being a nuisance (which may be as little as using profane or abusive language against others in public), or failing to leave an area upon being given a move-on notice by police. 

These offences can have implications for future prospects through police clearances and background checks. See our ‘Spent Convictions’ section or contact our office for more information as to how to minimise these impacts.

Sexual offence allegations can be particularly sensitive for the persons involved, with consequences reaching beyond the courtroom into the personal, professional and social aspects of a person’s life. Correspondingly, at Tehan Legal we approach these matters methodically, with the utmost professionalism and confidentiality for our clients. 

We are versed in the broad range of sexual offences, from the least serious to the most. Please see below for a summary of the most common offences and contact our office for more detailed and personalised advice.

• Sexual penetration without consent
  A charge of sexual penetration without consent involves engaging in sexual activity with another person without their consent. This includes penetration of any part of a person’s body by any appendage, body part or object. The maximum penalty for this offence is 14 years imprisonment, although in circumstances of aggravation, such as when causing injury or threating with a weapon, an offender may be imprisoned for up to 20 years.
• Indecent Assault
  Indecent assault is the touching of another person, without their consent, in a way that is inherently indecent. Despite the offence’s name, the touching does not have to be sexually motivated, simply offensive or contrary to society’s general standards of propriety in the situation. The same action therefore may or may not be indecent depending on the context in which it occurred.
• The maximum penalty for this offence is 5 years imprisonment.
• Sexual offences against children
  Although persons under 18 are legally children, the age of consent in Western Australia is 16, meaning the sexual offences specific to children only apply to those cases in which the alleged victim is less than 16 years old.
• Children below 16 years of age
  Although the age of consent is 16, children between the ages of 13 to 16 are capable of providing limited consent, which may mitigate the seriousness of alleged conduct.
• Sexual offences against a child below 13 years of age
  Unlike similar offences to children over 13, offences against children below this age are stricter. Children below 13 are also taken as legally incapable of providing any consent. The correspondingly greater severity attracts greater maximum and average penalties.
• Sexual offences against children in a person’s care
  Offences against children in a person’s care attract greater penalties as the relationship of trust and confidence between the child and carer is seen as making the conduct particularly egregious. This applies to teachers, relatives, babysitters and any person in a position of authority or trust over the child. The potentially greater consequence of dismissal from a person’s work or ostracization from social or personal circles can make these offences particularly daunting to face, making timely, objective and courteous legal advice even more important and reassuring.

Tehan Legal also has relationships with several unions in supervisory industries, and we provide representation at a discounted rate to all of these partner unions’ members.

Western Australia has some of the nation’s most stringent firearms laws. The possession of any unlicenced or improperly secured firearm is an offence. Our office has experienced in contest or pleading in relation to all firearm offences. We can also contest firearm confiscation proceedings when instructed. 

Our lawyers are also experienced in the resolution of non-firearm offences, involving bladed weapons or other objects which are prohibited to carry in public or in a certain manner.