The Offence of ‘Home Invasion’: Aggravated Break and Enter to Commit Serious Indictable Offence

A 15-year-old boy from southwestern Sydney gained entry into a house located on Cabrogal land on Longfield Street in Cabramatta at around 6.15 pm on 6 May 2026, and he had no permission to do so. The teenager then grabbed a 16-year-old girl’s head from behind, and after what appears to have been a slight struggle, the boy fled the scene on foot.

The teenage girl didn’t know her assailant and she was not injured in the attack. New South Wales police received a call at around 8.45 pm that same evening that reported an unknown intruder had entered the Longfield Street house. Officers from the Fairfield City Police Area Command then attended the premises to establish a crime scene and commence investigations.

Following inquiries, the 15-year-old boy was then arrested in the local vicinity on the following day, and he was taken down to Cabramatta police station to be charged with a string of serious offences in relation to the home invasion.

The charges the teenager is now facing include three counts of the crime that is commonly referred to as home invasion, along with two counts of stalk/intimidate and a single count of break and enter into a dwelling-house or other building with intent to commit a serious indictable offence.

As the offender is considered a juvenile, youth or young person in the NSW criminal justice system, he will attend the Children’s Court of NSW and face trial and sentencing, in accordance with the Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987 (NSW), which provides for the more lenient sentencing of kids than compared with adults, and the legislation has a specific focus on rehabilitation.

The age of criminal responsibility in NSW is 10 years old. Within the NSW criminal justice system, a juvenile is a person aged from 10 to up to 17 years old.

In terms of adults, they face more serious punishment for the commission of their crimes, which are the penalties set out in the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW). The below descriptions of home invasion offences involve the penalties and outcomes for adults charged with these crimes.

As for the teenage boy, he was immediately refused bail and was due to appear in the Children’s Court last Friday, 8 May 2026.

Home invasion in NSW

NSW Police News described the actions of the teenage boy as a “home invasion”. Home invasion in NSW means aggravated forms of the basic break and enter offences found under sections 112 of 113 of the Crimes Act. The aggravating factors that can turn a regular break and enter crime into a home invasion can include being armed, using violence or being in company.

The charge sheet under consideration involves two counts of aggravated breaking and entering into a dwelling-house or other building and committing a serious indictable offence in circumstances of aggravation, contrary to subsection 112(2) of the Crimes Act. An adult convicted in respect of this crime faces up to 14 years imprisonment.

To establish this offence, the prosecution must prove that an individual broke into, or simply entered without permission, a dwelling house or other building and committed a serious indictable offence under the specific circumstances of aggravation.

A list of factors that result in a crime being considered aggravated is contained under section 21A of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999. In the case of the 15-year-old boy’s crime, the circumstances appear to have involved the offence being committed against the victim in their own home, which is the factor contained in subsection 21A(2)(eb) of that legislation.

A serious indictable offence is any crime that carries a maximum penalty of at least 5 years imprisonment. In the case of the 15-year-old boy, the serious indictable offences involved appear to be deprivation of liberty and sexual touching.

The basic offence of break and enter to commit serious indictable offence sits under subsection 112(1) of the Crimes Act 1900, and it carries up to 14 years imprisonment.

The offence of specially aggravated break and enter to commit serious indictable offence is contained in subsection 112(3) of the Crimes Act, and it carries up to 25 years inside. A specially aggravated crime involves an offence being committed under the most serious forms of aggravation, which include using a dangerous weapon, wounding or inflicting actual bodily harm.

One count of aggravated break and enter into dwelling-house or other building with intent to commit a serious indictable offence, contrary to subsection 113(2) of the Crimes Act, also appears on the boy’s charge sheet. This crime carries up to 14 years imprisonment, and in the current case, the circumstances of aggravation would be the same as the subsection 112(2) charges.

The difference between the section 112 offence of break and enter to commit a serious crime and section 113’s break and enter with intent to commit a serious indictable offence is that in the case of the latter offence, the offender had attempted to commit a serious crime but was unsuccessful.

With the stalk/intimidate charges and the grabbing of the teenage girl, it can be assumed the teenage boy had intended to commit a more serious crime of a sexual nature, but the victim resisted her attacker.

Subsection 113(1) of the Crimes Act contains the basic form of break and enter with intent to commit serious indictable offence, which carries 10 years imprisonment, while a specially aggravated form of this offence sits under subsection 113(3) of the Act, and it carries up to 20 years inside.

Defences against home invasion

There are a number of defences available to the general crime of break and enter to commit serious indicatable offence or intent to do so, as well as the aggravated forms of these crimes. The ability for a defence to be raised against a crime depends upon the specific circumstances the wrongdoing involves.

These defences include that of duress, which involves the defendant putting to the court that they perpetrated their crime due to a threat being made against themselves or a loved one. The threat involved must be significant enough to have warranted the wrongdoing to avoid it, and that the threat had actually been made must be proven to the court.

Another key defence open for break and enter and home invasion charges is that of necessity. This involves putting to the court that the defendant broke into a premises to perpetrate the further crime involved because it was necessary in order to avoid a much greater and imminent harm. An example would be entering a home and assaulting a person to prevent them from harming another.

Claim of right is a common defence against break and entering to commit a crime, when the serious indictable offence involves larceny or stealing. Claim of right involves the defendant putting to the court that they honestly believed that the property they were attempting to obtain was rightfully theirs but was in the hands of another. This belief must be shown to have been reasonably held.

The defence of self-defence is also open in the case of home invasions. This defence entails the accused arguing that they perpetrated a particular crime in order to defend themselves or another from harm or unlawful deprivation, as well as having perpetrated their acts in order to protect their own property or to have prevented criminal trespass.

Sentencing children in NSW

As the offender in the current case is a 15-year-old boy, he will be sentenced differently to adults and in accordance with the principles set out in the Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act (CCP Act).

The principles involved in the CCP Act are set out under section 6 and include children having the same rights to be heard and participate in proceedings as adults, that while responsible for their actions, due to their age, they need guidance and assistance, and where possible, the child should continue with education, any employment and be allowed to live at home whilst being punished.

Further principles include that a penalty imposed on a child should not be greater than that for an adult for the same crime, as well as that the child should be assisted with reintegration into the community, that they must accept responsibility for their actions and pay any reparations required, and consideration should be given to the effect of the crime upon the victim.

And as for the penalties imposed on children found guilty of a crime, section 33 of the CCP Act sets out that the court may dismiss the charge and either caution the child or impose a good behaviour bond on them for up to 2 years.

In response to a standing conviction, the court may impose a good behaviour bond of no more than 2 years or hand down a fine of up to $1,100 or if the maximum fine that applies to the offence is less, then that should be the punishment.

Further options include releasing the child and ordering them to undertake an outcome plan in line with the Young Offenders Act 1997 (NSW), or to order a pause to proceedings for up to 12 months, and in readjourning, assessment of the circumstances surrounding the child’s rehabilitation in the interim must be made in order to ascertain whether any further punishment is needed.

And a court can also release a child on probation for up to two years, impose a number of specified combinations of these penalties together, or if a child’s crime is serious enough, the case will be committed to an adult court for finalisation, and an assessment will then be made on whether more serious penalties than are usually applied to children should be handed down.