Receiving

Question 1

Receiving
Section and Penalty

Answer 1

S246(1) CA61

7 Years Imp (Exceeds $1000)
1 Year Imp ($500 - $1000)
3 Months Imp (Under $500)

Question 2

Receiving
Elements

Answer 2

• Receives
• Any property stolen OR obtained by any other imprisonable offence
• Knowing the property to be stolen or so obtained OR Being reckless whether or not the property had been stolen or so obtained

Question 3

Legislation: When is receiving complete

Answer 3

S246(3) CA61

As soon as the offender has, either exclusively or jointly with the thief or any other person, possession of, or control over, the property OR helps in concealing or disposing of the property

Question 4

Possession
R v Cox

Answer 4

R v Cox - Possession involves two elements, Physical and Mental. Physical custody and control. Mental, knowledge and intent.

Question 5

Cullen v R

Possession for receiving, four elements

Answer 5

Cullen v R

There are four elements of possession for receiving:

• (a) awareness that the item is where it is;
• (b) awareness that the item has been stolen;
• (c) actual or potential control of the item; and
• (d) an intention to exercise that control over the item.

Question 6

Cullen v R

What are the two areas that the Cullen test are divided into?

Answer 6

1. Guilty knowledge
2. Control of the item

Question 7

R v Donnelly

Not an offence to receive

Answer 7

R v Donnelly

Where stolen property has been returned to the owner or legal title to any such property has been acquired by any person, it is not an offence to subsequently receive it, even though the receiver may know that the property had previously been stolen or dishonestly obtained.

Question 8

Definition: Property

Answer 8

Define: Property

Sec 2 Crimes Act 1961

Property includes any real and personal property and any estate or interest in any real or personal property, money, electricity and any debt and any thing in action and any other right or interest.

Question 9

R v Lucinsky

Property received must be

Answer 9

R v Lucinsky

The property received must be the property stolen or illegally obtained (or part thereof), and not some other item for which the illegally obtained property had been exchanged or which are the proceeds.

Question 10

Definition: Title

Answer 10

Title:
A right or claim to the ownership of property.

Question 11

Definition: Voidable Title

Answer 11

A title obtained by deception, fraud, duress or misrepresentation is called a ‘voidable title’.

This means that the title can be voided by the seller.

Until the title is voided, the defrauder has voidable title, and can confer good title on anyone who acquires the goods from him or her in good faith and for value.

Question 12

How to void title

Answer 12

• Communicate with the offender
• Take all other possible steps to bring it to offender’s notice, eg by writing a letter
• Advise the police that the item was obtained by deception

Question 13

Taking

Legislation/meaning

Answer 13

S219(4) CA61

For tangible property, theft is committed by a taking when the offender moves the property or causes it to be moved.

Question 14

R v Kennedy

Guilty Knowledge

Answer 14

R v Kennedy

The guilty knowledge that the thing has been stolen or dishonestly obtained must exist at the time of receiving.

Question 15

R v Harney

Recklessness

Answer 15

R v Harney

Recklessness means the conscious and deliberate taking of an unjustified risk. In New Zealand it involves proof that the consequence complained of could well happen, together with an intention to continue the course of conduct regardless of risk

Question 16

Doctrine of Recent Possession

Answer 16

Where a person is found in possession of stolen property reasonably soon after the theft, an inference may be drawn that the person in possession either stole the property or received it from the thief.

Question 17

Theft

Legislation

Answer 17

S219(1) CA61

• Dishonestly
• and without claim of right,
• takes
• any property
• with intent to deprive any owner permanently of that property or of any interest in that property

Question 18

Circumstantial Evidence of Guilty Knowledge

Answer 18

• Possession of recently stolen property
• Nature of the property
• Purchase at a Gross undervalue
• Secrecy in receiving the property

Question 19

Property stolen to order

Answer 19

In this situation the receiver is liable as a party to the principal offence, pursuant to 66(1) rather than as a receiver under S246.

Question 20

What three elements need to be satisfied regarding the “Act of Receiving”?

Answer 20

• There must be property which has been stolen or has been obtained by an imprisonable offence.
• The defendant must have received that property, which requires that the receiving must be from another (you cannot receive from yourself).
• The defendant must receive that property in the knowledge that it has been stolen or illegally obtained or being reckless to that possibility.

STOLEN, RECEIVED, KNOWLEDGE

Question 21

Receiving S246(1)
What case laws and definitions for this liability?

Answer 21

1) Receives

 Define: Intent: Deliberate act to get a specific result
	 When receiving is complete S246(3)
	 Possession: R v Cox; Cullen v R.

2) Any property stolen OR obtained by any other imprisonable offence

Offence legally possible: R v Donnelly
	Definition of property CA61 S2. 
	R v Lucinsky
	Define theft S219(1)

3) Knowing the property to be stolen or so obtained OR being reckless whether or not the property had been stolen or so obtained.

	Knowing Caselaw: R v Kennedy
	
	Define: Recklessly: Consciously and deliberately ran a risk
	Caselaw: Cameron V R: Offender knew actions would bring result and circumstances existed.
	R v Tipple: Knowing the risk and acting anyway