what have criminals done to you?

RULE303 · 08-10-2013, 06:52 PM

Last year in a 3 month span we got done twice.

First time was in early october i had to walk home from school because mum and dad were still working, I opened the door to see the whole house ransacked, i just stood in the entrance while it sunk in, nothing like this had ever happened to me before. Not knowing whether the as$&%<*s were still in the house i slowly walked out, they were long gone but better safe than sorry, i called my mum and dad and i think they got home quicker than they ever had before. After i called them i called 131 444 and the operator told me to go inside and see exactly what had happened, they got in by forcing the laundry door open which is well hidden from the door.

I kept calm until my parents got home then i completely lost it. I had only just turned 13 so i think i dealt with it rather well until the responsibility was taken off my hands. Such a horrible feeling, all my clothes were around the house, i felt like burning them. They were on foot so tv's etc were still there, but laptops, phones, money, dads very extensive and expensive booze collection was gone. The bad bit was my dads works at Yatala prison so they took his uniform and his 2 replica pistols which the cops were really worried about.

They weren't particularly malicious (no broken glass etc) which is a good thing i guess. They wore gloves and we didn't have a security system so no we didn't catch them. The feeling from this is horrible, didn't want to touch anything, i felt sooo violated and wanted to go away for a while, they took the spare car and house keys so had the house locks changed that night, but mum was worried sick about her car getting taken, none of us got much sleep, then in the morning a friend from down the road found the car keys on his front lawn so they must of dropped it while bolting down the street.

Second was a 2 months later, it was around 2am in the morning, I had a friend over for he night so were playing xbox, we heard a noises but didn't think of it as much, woke up the next morning to my quad bike being gone, thought it was gone, but dad went for a walk and found it 200meters down the road. The bastards went straight through our brand new fence without it being in gear. This takes some muscle so i'm guessing there was 2 or 3 of them.

The quad had a broken brake lever and system, bent steering and scratches. still managed to start it and drive it back up to its home. Isn't the most expensive quad so 200 bucks later the quad was all good, still such a pain in the *** though!

Well, there's my two stories of what has happened to me. whats happened to you guys?

PS. We now have a good security system, cctv cameras and crimsafe doors all around the house for peice of mind.

zilo · 08-10-2013, 08:08 PM

The worst criminal to ever rob our family wore a suit and shook our hand with a smile.

Called himself a "Financial Planner".

A lot of our money was "lost" because his commissions came out of the account before investing in places that maximized his commissions...

So yeah...white collar crims are the worst....

Beware of any friend you went to school with who magically looks you up many years later and wants to be friends again.....

AndyXR6T · 08-10-2013, 08:13 PM

I think the feeling of someone breaking into your house and going through your personal belongings would have to be up there on the 'crap feeling' list.
Havnt had it happen to me but my car got stolen years ago, metres away from my window where I was sleeping. Wasn't insured so copped a massive loss and learnt a great lesson in life.

Bridgette01 · 08-10-2013, 08:52 PM

Had my work van broken into 4 times over 10 years, tens of thousands of dollars gone in tools

RULE303 · 08-10-2013, 10:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AndyXR6T

I think the feeling of someone breaking into your house and going through your personal belongings would have to be up there on the 'crap feeling' list.
Havnt had it happen to me but my car got stolen years ago, metres away from my window where I was sleeping. Wasn't insured so copped a massive loss and learnt a great lesson in life.

It is a really horrible feeling, literally considered putting a blanket down on the lounge before sitting down. My mothers underwear was shoved down the side of her bed. Don't know how people can live with theirselves doing things like that.

grandpa_spec_F6 · 08-10-2013, 11:16 PM

My mother actually caught one of the buggers... but he still got away.

Walked inside, noticed the curtain was blowing, found the window had been smashed.
Started looking at the lounge and all the cords were wrapped up around the TV, DVD etc.
She started walking around and found someone in my room, along with my Playstation, TV etc all wrapped up on the bed ready to go. What she did next stunned both my family and the Police.

My mother is not a pushover, but she's the most kind, gentle, loving, caring, compassionate person you've ever met... She LUNGED at the dude! Grabbed him by the wrists and started screaming for dear life, he forced her back into the lounge but she held on and screamed and screamed and screamed!!

He finally yelled over the top of her no harm would come to her if she let him go. She thought about it for a second... and with a shove and a string of expletives from her following his stupid behind out of our house, he fled... along with all her jewelry, great grandmothers, grandmothers, mother etc in his pockets.

Cops turned up (ages later) and took a statement, found a crowbar hidden inside a Padua t-shirt (Very prestigious private school here in Brisbane) and took the statement... their faces were priceless... "He could have KILLED YOU" were the words I remember vividly. They were right... but at least he got one HELL of a fright!

Never caught him, nothing would have happened anyway... that's the most eventful robbery we've had, the others were just snatch and runs during the day when we weren't home.

I know the dirty feeling you speak of, your home is your castle... and mine (and hers) now both have extra sets of teeth...

FGX-351 · 08-10-2013, 11:23 PM

I went to Padua. :(

Linkachu · 08-10-2013, 11:32 PM

Mothers house got done earlier this year. It was a revenge attack on her from an ex, only stole sentimental things from her. Unfortunately they were never caught.

Me being good with technology found the exact time the power was cut by looking at the router (keeps a log of power on and off times).

NX74205 · 09-10-2013, 01:09 AM

I think most of us had been broken into at some stage. I was 10 years old at the time, and thankfully that was still the one and only time, and nothing was taken. Fingers crossed it will stay that way.

I can't imagine how those low life scumbag oxygen thieves get away with this. I'd love for laws to be changed so that people defending their property are immune from prosecution for any harm, lethal or not, done to these scums if they're ever caught in the act.

martinijosh · 09-10-2013, 01:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NX74205

I think most of us had been broken into at some stage. I was 10 years old at the time, and thankfully that was still the one and only time, and nothing was taken. Fingers crossed it will stay that way.

I can't imagine how those low life scumbag oxygen thieves get away with this. I'd love for laws to be changed so that people defending their property are immune from prosecution for any harm, lethal or not, done to these scums if they're ever caught in the act.

Lure someone into your house, kill them and say they were stealing from you.

NX74205 · 09-10-2013, 02:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by martinijosh

Lure someone into your house, kill them and say they were stealing from you.

Fair point. I hadn't thought of that.

I just get frustrated hearing about homeowners being prosecuted trying to defend their property.

reinman · 09-10-2013, 04:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NX74205

Fair point. I hadn't thought of that.

I just get frustrated hearing about homeowners being prosecuted trying to defend their property.

I know what your saying here, but luring someone in to then give them a beating is the wrong way to go about it.

If you discovered the break in, in progress and you were defending yourself or your property and the criminal was injured (if you kill them - you could still face manslaughter).....most good Police officers/ Public prosecutors will just determine that it's against the public interest to prosecute the home owners and drop the case against them, you'd like to hope they continue to prosecute the criminal.

If the case does go to court most good Magistrates will throw the case out/ any half decent defense lawyer (who isn't out there to rip you off) should be able to defend you as well, because It's an old common law (and case law) that a person has the lawful right to defend themselves, prevent trespass onto there property and to prevent there belongings from being stolen or damaged.

Another old common law rule is the "citizens power of arrest" - now there are a lot of pitfalls associated with this and unless you've read and are familiar with the legislation - I wouldn't condone this (because unless you go about it the right ways, it does leave you vulnerable for criminal prosecution).

TheSneakiness · 09-10-2013, 11:27 AM

Had some kids break in to a new townhouse we were renting (about week 3 in) and took my wife's handbag (which also had my wallet and phone in it), set of keys and other contents.

Only thing that got returned was my phone (and the stupid bastard left photos of himself on it), that got promptly thrown in the bin (cue huge fight with Vodafone about charges on phone after stolen). Car had the barrel lock and remaining key recoded and locks were changed. Contacted Real Estate about it and this led to a 6 week fight against them because according to them "the premises is safe now". Ended up getting a break lease.

I now do not deal with any LJ Hooker franchises.

**hawkgirl** · 09-10-2013, 11:31 AM

i know someone who had a criminal complaint made against them for having an attacking / dangerous dog..... the complainaint was pretty chewed up but also admitted to the cops that he was trying to break into the house at the time.....

castellan · 09-10-2013, 05:06 PM

Well when i was a school kid we had some people they call themselves a mob.
They stole, well they called it doing a job.
They would come to school and boast of what they got, but they had to go to brisbane to sell it all mainly.
The cops back then 1970's and 80's did not want to know about them at all as it was the cops that faced fines for anything some smart lawyer could dish up as the gov payed them to do as so.

If you work for a living you are a mug and if you vote for the big 2 you are a fool as they are not looking after your interest they are only mainly looking after the mob of low life's.

How this, some moron comes up to me to try to sell drugs, i punch him out directly on the spot and who is it that is in the wrong ? it should be my right to sort out anyone who is coming that filth. but no no ! the law is on their side.

Just like all the so called bikie crime we have now, the gov created it all in the first place because they let it get out of hand in the first place.

Bossxr8 · 09-10-2013, 05:09 PM

I'm very lucky and have never been broken into. But my EL XR8 was stolen out of my driveway :(

reinman · 09-10-2013, 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by castellan

How this, some moron comes up to me to try to sell drugs, i punch him out directly on the spot and who is it that is in the wrong ? it should be my right to sort out anyone who is coming that filth. but no no ! the law is on their side.

That would be a case where you'd definitely be in the wrong!!! A criminal justice system has been establish for a reason and "most" of the time it works.

In your example - you'd just ask for his/ her name, maybe a contact number or address and pass the details onto Police (even if he provided false details - it can help establish a modus operandi - MO which can be used to build a stronger case).

I wouldn't punch them out cold for it, because you'd be in front of the court for it. Assault occasioning grievous bodily harm is a more serious offence than attempt to sell and supply prohibited substance/ drug.

The only time your allowed to use force (ie. punch, kick, restrain) on someone else is when your in self defense of yourself or someone who isn't capable of defending themselves (ie. the elderly, the young, or someone who's been injured already) and even then it has to be proportionate and lawful (ie. don't go chasing after him to hit him a few more times - because that's not in self defense anymore). The only other time you may use it is to prevent trespass and to prevent your property from being stolen (ie. Burglary in progress - so you tackle him and retrieve your property, but in doing so he gets some bruises and cuts - that's lawful....but laying a couple extra kicks or punches in for being a smart *** to you - is not lawful).

It's a very fine line - honestly it's best left to the Police (they have been empowered to do there job and you need to trust them they are doing it properly).

As for how many times I've been broken into/ had my stuff stolen....more times than I can count on one hand. We had out whole house emptied while we were on holiday - we've had 3 cars stolen on 3 different occasions (none super valuable) - I've had all my work belongings (totaling over $3000) stolen from a storeroom in a secure building on a security restricted site - I've had a $5000 mountain bike get stolen as well.

So I can sympathize with everyone here.

Serial_Fool · 09-10-2013, 08:08 PM

A man's home is his castle.

Castle doctrine anyone?

malazn mafia · 09-10-2013, 10:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reinman

Assault occasioning grievous bodily harm is a more serious offence than attempt to sell and supply prohibited substance/ drug.

It's a very fine line - honestly it's best left to the Police (they have been empowered to do there job and you need to trust them they are doing it properly).

What is defined 'assault occasioning grievous bodily harm'? I had the misfortune of meeting a deranged psychopath and offering to help with his computer and the excuse of a human being started making all sorts of weird and crazy accusations and continuous abusive texts, threats and phone calls. Long story short was held hostage in the miserable p$&@ks car and forced to reveal where I lived and left me alone for a year. Lured me to his house again and this time assaulted me numerous times and left me with broken ribs. Continued to make threats against me and family over the phone and this time recorded the phone calls. Went to the police, filed report with X-rays and the recordings and the miserable fool is still allowed to roam free 9 months later and I had to waste air tickets, taxi fares and a whole day at court to file an AVO against him. Never heard anything of this again and had to fork out of my own pocket to relocate family interstate to be safe from this excuse of a human being. VicPol was obviously not interested to help with a blunt 'what do you want us to do? Patrol your house? There are plenty of people out there with death threats and we have one divvy van for 4 suburbs ' If that isn't 'assault occasioning grievous bodily harm' I don't know what is, and the penalties are way too lenient. And threats to kill and assault are obviously not serious in the eyes of Victoria Police, a simple speeding offence is obviously more important to them. To this day the sight of a white TF magna makes me sick wanting to throw up and the thought of the sick fool and his voice, or anyone bearing any similarity to his appearance still makes my blood boil. /rant over

K_Man · 09-10-2013, 10:14 PM

Had my cars broken into twice.....well, last time kinda didnt count, had pulled up in the street at home and went inside for 5 to grab a shopping list and some cash from the missus, didnt bother to lock the car, came back to find everything pulled out of the centre console and glovebox.....nothing taken, assuming it was kids looking for cigarettes (had an empty pack on the dash, was one of the things I was heading back out for

).

Time before that, had my old ED broken into through the back 1/4 window, and the only thing they took, of all things was my fricken vw racing jacket!

Ive gotten off very lightly compared to some of you blokes, have to be so cautious nowadays...

NX74205 · 09-10-2013, 11:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reinman

I know what your saying here, but luring someone in to then give them a beating is the wrong way to go about it.

I didn't say that. I proposed a change such that a person who is defending their property is immune from any prosecution as a result of any harm done to a person who is an illegal trespasser. I hadn't realised the massive loophole that would create.

Quote:

Originally Posted by reinman

If you discovered the break in, in progress and you were defending yourself or your property and the criminal was injured (if you kill them - you could still face manslaughter).....most good Police officers/ Public prosecutors will just determine that it's against the public interest to prosecute the home owners and drop the case against them, you'd like to hope they continue to prosecute the criminal.

If the case does go to court most good Magistrates will throw the case out/ any half decent defense lawyer (who isn't out there to rip you off) should be able to defend you as well, because It's an old common law (and case law) that a person has the lawful right to defend themselves, prevent trespass onto there property and to prevent there belongings from being stolen or damaged.

I'm aware of those. However, as you rightly point out:

Quote:

Originally Posted by reinman

The only time your allowed to use force (ie. punch, kick, restrain) on someone else is when your in self defense of yourself or someone who isn't capable of defending themselves (ie. the elderly, the young, or someone who's been injured already) and even then it has to be proportionate and lawful

That leaves a lot of room for (mis)interpretation, and frankly, I don't think homeowners should be at risk of being proscuted if their action in the heat of the moment was slightly (or a lot) more than proportional. People work very hard to own what they have, those scumbags who steal from law abiding citizens do not deserve any protection whatsoever that the law affords.

Quote:

Originally Posted by malazn mafia

What is defined 'assault occasioning grievous bodily harm'? I had the misfortune of meeting a deranged psychopath and offering to help with his computer and the excuse of a human being started making all sorts of weird and crazy accusations and continuous abusive texts, threats and phone calls. Long story short was held hostage in the miserable p$&@ks car and forced to reveal where I lived and left me alone for a year. Lured me to his house again and this time assaulted me numerous times and left me with broken ribs. Continued to make threats against me and family over the phone and this time recorded the phone calls. Went to the police, filed report with X-rays and the recordings and the miserable fool is still allowed to roam free 9 months later and I had to waste air tickets, taxi fares and a whole day at court to file an AVO against him. Never heard anything of this again and had to fork out of my own pocket to relocate family interstate to be safe from this excuse of a human being. VicPol was obviously not interested to help with a blunt 'what do you want us to do? Patrol your house? There are plenty of people out there with death threats and we have one divvy van for 4 suburbs ' If that isn't 'assault occasioning grievous bodily harm' I don't know what is, and the penalties are way too lenient. And threats to kill and assault are obviously not serious in the eyes of Victoria Police, a simple speeding offence is obviously more important to them. To this day the sight of a white TF magna makes me sick wanting to throw up and the thought of the sick fool and his voice, or anyone bearing any similarity to his appearance still makes my blood boil. /rant over

That's a lot of crimes committed there (threats, deprivation of liberty, assault, stalking), but 'assault occasioning grievous bodily harm' probably isn't one of them.

Assault = force of any kind applied to the person of another, directly or indirectly, without their consent, or by a bodily act or gesture attempts or threatens to apply force of any kind to the person of another in circumstances where the person making the attempt or threat has an actual or apparent ability to carry out that attempt or threat.

Grievous bodily harm = any bodily injury of such a nature as to enanger, or be likely to endanger life, or to cause, or be likely to cause, permanent injury to health.

reinman · 09-10-2013, 11:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by malazn mafia

What is defined 'assault occasioning grievous bodily harm'?

.......snip......

sick fool and his voice, or anyone bearing any similarity to his appearance still makes my blood boil. /rant over

From what you've told me its a s^*t situation, but you can't blame the Police for not doing anything. You've made an accusation of being assaulted (you have X-rays as well). But no independent witnesses saw the assault so there is no evidence to corroborate the bloke hitting you.

I could break some ribs falling off my bike and get some X-rays done and then claim you assaulted me - but it's an unsubstantiated claim (there is no other evidence to prove this) - you seeing what I'm saying?

As for the threats - it's very hard to prove you were threatened by this bloke when it occurred over a carriage service. There needs to be a real and immediate ability for the bloke to carry about the threat.

It would be like me calling you from WA and saying - that I'm gonna come and kill you.

And as far as you know - when you made the complaint about the threats VicPOL probably listed your address as "Treat as Urgent" which means exactly that so lights and sirens.

So just looking at what you've said and I can understand your side. It would appear that on both accounts there wouldn't have been enough evidence for the Police to proceed, let alone get a conviction. So rather they use there time (not that they have much of it) to work on cases where a conviction is more likely.

Please don't take this as having a go at you - Im most certainly not. I'm just trying to clear some of the confusion people have about the criminal justice system especially what Police do.

Now time for my rant - all the little snide remarks about Traffic Cops (and how they do nothing) which Ive seen in numerous threads really ***** me off - imagine if no one enforced the road rules. It would be lawless on the roads - everyone would speed - no one would stop at traffic lights - hell if you knew no one was watching you/ going to ticket you...would you still follow the road rules? Would you pay registration? Would you renew your license?

Everyone has there role to play and in a situation where a serious or urgent job came in a traffic car would be expected to attend and often they do as well.

Rant over

.

FGII-XR6 · 10-10-2013, 09:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by castellan

How this, some moron comes up to me to try to sell drugs, i punch him out directly on the spot and who is it that is in the wrong ? it should be my right to sort out anyone who is coming that filth. but no no ! the law is on their side.

Just like all the so called bikie crime we have now, the gov created it all in the first place because they let it get out of hand in the first place.

It's Joe average acting like this that's part of the problem. just because someone else is criminal scum it does not give you the right to be a bigger low life.
who are you to be judge jury and executioner? you are no better than the scum you are morally outraged about and with that attitude it's only a matter of time before you are behind bars for beating someone who you have deemed bad.

martinijosh · 10-10-2013, 09:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by au3xr6

It's Joe average acting like this that's part of the problem. just because someone else is criminal scum it does not give you the right to be a bigger low life.
who are you to be judge jury and executioner? you are no better than the scum you are morally outraged about and with that attitude it's only a matter of time before you are behind bars for beating someone who you have deemed bad.

You believed that story?

mik · 10-10-2013, 10:51 AM

Had both the house and garage burgled some years ago, among other things over the years, it certainly gives you a nasty gut feeling about some of our fellow human beings that's for sure, not to mention the feeling your safe home is not.

FGII-XR6 · 10-10-2013, 11:09 AM

It was obviously put there as a scenario but it is the behaviour he proposes that is the issue . the proposed behaviour is as criminal as the other offender in the scenario

Quote:

Originally Posted by martinijosh

You believed that story?

BHDOGS · 10-10-2013, 11:38 AM

Haha ah au3 u just made me laugh the law is the black and white life isn't having done security for 5 years I can tell u only scumbags are looked after victims Always get shafted it's a ****** system and it needs to change

NX74205 · 10-10-2013, 12:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BHDOGS

Haha ah au3 u just made me laugh the law is the black and white life isn't having done security for 5 years I can tell u only scumbags are looked after victims Always get shafted it's a ****** system and it needs to change

Actually, the law is far from black and white, it's all shades of grey and quite open to interpretation.

But you're right, it needs to change. No legal system is perfect, no law is perfect.

FGII-XR6 · 10-10-2013, 12:40 PM

So are you one of the bouncers ( sorry security guards ) who prefers to bash someone into submission? Violence is never an appropriate response unless it is in defence and used proportionately, those who believe that it's ok to bash someone because they did the wrong thing are crims just like those they bash . they may not see them selves as crims and may even see themselves as heroes but they are no better than those they seek out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BHDOGS

Haha ah au3 u just made me laugh the law is the black and white life isn't having done security for 5 years I can tell u only scumbags are looked after victims Always get shafted it's a ****** system and it needs to change

reinman · 10-10-2013, 01:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by au3xr6

It's Joe average acting like this that's part of the problem. just because someone else is criminal scum it does not give you the right to be a bigger low life.
who are you to be judge jury and executioner? you are no better than the scum you are morally outraged about and with that attitude it's only a matter of time before you are behind bars for beating someone who you have deemed bad.

Don't think I could have said it better myself au3xr6 - cheers.