Our client instructed us to plead not guilty to attempted larceny, after he and a mate had been caught trying to tow away an apparently abandoned trailer. At the hearing, we argued claim of right – our client had an honest belief in his legal entitlement to the trailer as abandoned property. The Magistrate was unpersuaded by this argument and found our client guilty on the basis that he had not gone to enough lengths to find the trailer’s rightful owner. Nevertheless, at the sentencing stage, the Magistrate recognised that our client was more of a hapless accomplice than criminal mastermind, and put our client on a good behaviour bond, no conviction recorded.

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