The Presiding Judge in Downing Centre District Court was persuaded to issue a ‘Section 32 order’ in favour of our 41 year old client who was charged with 13 counts of ‘obtaining a financial advantage’.
A ‘Section 32 order‘ allows a court to dismiss a case without finding a person guilty or imposing a criminal conviction against them. A court can do this if the person was suffering from a ‘mental condition’ at the time of the alleged offences.
Our client was employed with Sydney City Council for nearly a decade. He was accused of forging a superior’s signature and submitting 62 fraudulent claims for payment between December 2011 and December 2012.
The claims were all approved and our client was paid the funds. The discrepancies were detected and our client was found to be responsible. He then admitted to the offences.
Our legal team recognised that his underlying mental health conditions may have contributed to the offending behaviour. We obtained a psychological report showing that he suffered from depression and social phobia during the relevant period.
The case was persuasively argued in court and our client was discharged without conviction on the basis that he complies with a treatment plan for a period of 6 months.