Cause injury by gunpowder

If you agree that you have committed the offence and the police are able to prove all the elements of the offence, it is best to plead guilty at an early opportunity to receive the maximum discount. Currently the maximum discount available for an early plea of guilty is 25% of the sentence.

Furthermore, the early guilty plea shows the Court that you have remorse and contrition for your actions.

Our Lawyers at National Criminal Lawyers work closely with you to ensure that we obtain all necessary paper work to get you the best result.

Causing Injury with Gunpowder can be punished with a prison sentence of up to 25 years. Please note that the penalties mentioned are reserved for the worse case offending and are unlikely to be the penalty you receive.

If you decide to plead not guilty you will need to prepare to go to a Defended Hearing.

A defended hearing is where all the witnesses of that case are called to give evidence. The witnesses are both examined by the prosecution and tested by your defence lawyers.

National Criminal Lawyers have defended thousands of people charged with Cause bodily injury with gunpowder and are experts at these hearings.

Some of the possible defences available for those charged with Cause bodily injury with gunpowder can include;

• If you were compelled to act in a certain way due to the circumstances, or the threats of another you may be able to argue “Duress”;
• To argue that you were not cultivating a plant;
• If your actions were necessary to prevent a greater harm from occurring, you may have the defence of “Necessity”.
• If you were defending yourself or another OR yours or another’s property you may have a Defence of Self-Defence. Many people misunderstand what the limits of Self-defence can be. Most think it is simply outlined in section 418 of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), however, there is lawful authority to argue self-defence even in situations where “Pre-Emptive Force” is used. Moreover, at times there “No duties or need to retreat”.

In NSW, a court can impose any of the following penalties for a Cause bodily injury with gunpowder charge.

• Prison sentence
• Home Detention
• Intensive correction order (previously periodic detention)
• Suspended sentence
• Community service order (CSO)
• Good behaviour bond
• Fine; and or
• Section 10

However, from the 24 September 2018 new penalty’s will be replacing the above. They are as follows:

• Full time Imprisonment
• New ICO (ICO) with a home detention condition available
• New Community Correction Order (CCO)
• Fine; and or
• New Conditional release Order (CRO)

Our client aged 58 years of age from Blacktown was charged by police with section 47 of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) for using explosive or corrosive fluid. It was alleged our client caused gunpowder to explode which was reported by his wife.

Prior to engaging legal representation our client participated in a police interview where he admitted there had been a gunpowder explosion however stated the explosion occurred from a malfunction while he was reloading his gun. Our client sustained minor burns to his legs which were treated by his local general practitioner.

The matter proceeded through the early appropriate guilty plea (‘EAGP’) process before our client formally entered a plea of not guilty and the matter was committed for trial. Our office in the lead up to the trial engaged a ballistic expert.

The ballistic expert drafted a formal report which we served upon the Director of Public Prosecutions opining there had been a mechanical error. The matter was heard before a jury of 12 members. The jury heard evidence from the officer in charge, the police ballistic expert, our client and the defence ballistic expert. After extensive deliberation, the jury unanimously found our client not guilty of the charge.