Criminal Law Offences and Defences

Running head: Criminal Law Offences 1
Criminal Law Offences and Defences
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Criminal Law Offences 2
Question one
Major sports clothing manufacturer paid $100,000 into Bashar’s bank account.
Bashar received financial advantage through deception and thus committed fraud. The
offence is provided under s. 192E1. Under the provision, any person who receives any
financial advantage through deception or dishonesty or puts another in financial disadvantage
through deception or dishonesty has committed fraud. The crime of fraud also includes
acquiring another’s property through fraud or deception. To obtain financial advantage under
s. 192E is defined under s.192D and it means to be the beneficiary of the financial advantage
or by inducement of a third you make yourself the beneficiary or another person the
beneficiary. It is inconsequential whether it temporary or permanent2. From s. 192D and
192E it is possible to deduce the following to be the actus reus of the offence to include
obtaining of financial advantage while the mens rea being intentional or recklessly acting in
dishonest or deceitful manner.
Bashar had signed a sponsorship contract with a major sports clothing manufacturer who had
agreed to pay $20,000 for each test match he plays, with a bonus of $80,000 for each test
match the team wins. However, Bashar’s team was not winning and informed his friend about
being in need of the $80,000 winning bonus. The friend told him to tamper with the ball.
Bashar tampered with the ball and thus his team won leading to receipt of $100,000 as bonus
from his sponsor. However, he does not remember the incidence. This might considered
reckless being that he does not give an account how the sand paper found itself in his pocket.
Thus Bashar used deception and dishonest means to obtain the $100,000 which is a crime
under s. 192E of the Act.
1 Crimes Act 1900 (NSW)
2 Sakurai Yuka and Russell G Smith, Gambling as a motivation for the commission of financial crime.
(Australian Institute of Criminology, 2003)

Criminal Law Offences 3
Bashar can rely on the defence of intoxication. He does not remember the event of
tampering with the ball and this he informed his coach, Francis and Dyson. Intoxication is
defined in s. 428A and it means being under the influence of drug or some other substance.
Under s. 428C the defence of intoxication is limited to offences of specific intent and are not
available to such offences where the defendant had resolved to commit the offence before
intoxication or became intoxicated to commit the offence3. Even though evidence of
intoxication is relevant, under s. 428D, in determining existence of mens rea, however, it is
irrelevant where the intoxication was self-induced4. This applies to offences other than
specific intent offences5. Also, under s. 428G the defence of intoxication is not available
where it is self-induced.
The offence is not specific intent offence and thus s. 428A and 428C are not available.
Bashar’s intoxication was self-induced. He woke up with severe pain and decided to take
twice the prescribed amount of pain killers. Therefore, the defence is not available for his as
per s. 428G.
Question two
Get your fucking shit together Bashar and bowl like you did in the last test.
Christos committed behaved offensively in a public place in the presence of school
going children contrary to the s. 4 of the Summary Offences Act. Under s. 4 no one is
permitted to behave offensively in or near a public place or a school. This include within the
view and hearing. However, use of offensive language alone does not constitute offensive
conduct under s. 4 of the Act6. A public place and a school are both defined in the Act.
However, for purposes of this scenario question we shall refer to the definition of a public
place. A public place is defined, under s. 3, as a place accessible by members of the public
3David Lanham et al, Criminal Laws in Australia (Federation Press, 2006) 58.
4 Paul Fairall and Stanley Meng Heong Yeo, Criminal Law Defences in Australia (Butterworths, 2005) 283
5Peter Louis Waller and Charles Robert Williams, Criminal Law: Text and Cases (Butterworths, 2001) 807
6 Summary Offences Act 1988(NSW) s. 4