Dec 19
Toronto Robbery Lawyers
The lawyers of Lockyer Zaduk Zeeh are experienced Toronto robbery lawyers. We are also regularly representing individuals charged with robbery in Hamilton, Brampton, Newmarket, and Oshawa. If you or someone you know has been charged with robbery you should contact a criminal lawyer immediately to help determine the best defence. Call us at (416) 613-0416 or (416) 595-9500 or contact us online for a free consultation.
What is Robbery?
A robbery charge takes many different forms. It can be a theft of someone’s property after an assault, up to as serious as an armed home invasion robbery. But simply put, robbery is a theft coupled with an assault (or violence). Robbery occurs when a person steals from another person using violence, threats of violence, and/or the use of a real or imitation weapon. The use of violence is what differentiates robbery from a theft.
How do I beat my Robbery Charge?
Since a robbery offence can occur in many ways, there are different defences available to you. The best defence for you will depend on the facts of your case and will require a thorough review of all the disclosure to properly advice you of your options. Some defences would result in an acquittal, while others could lead to an acquittal for robbery but a finding of guilt of the lesser offence of theft. These defences are as follows:
- Factual Innocence: you can provide alibi evidence, or other witnesses to prove that you were not there and could not have committed the offence.
- Identity: identity of the perpetrator is many times a crucial issue in a case. The Crown must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you committed the robbery. Depending on the quality of surveillance footage and the familiarity the civilian witness has with you, the Crown may have a difficult time proving that you were the person that committed the robbery. For example, if the perpetrator wore a disguise during the bank robbery, the Crown may have no evidence to support who the perpetrator is.
- Charter: anytime a police officer breaches your Charter rights you can apply to exclude evidence from your case. It is unlikely that a successful Charter application would win your case (such as a Refuse to Provide Breath Sample case wherein you exclude the breath sample, ergo the Crown’s only evidence), but the exclusion of important evidence may leave the Crown with a substantially weaker case. For example, if evidence was seized from your residence after a search warrant that you successfully challenged, that evidence would be excluded, and the Crown would be unable to rely upon it.
- Not a Party: It is not an offence to be merely present, more is required. In some cases, an individual may find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. Many youth robbery charges involve a fight with one of the fighters stealing the other’s backpack. Sometimes, in those circumstances, bystanders are charged, but they can argue that they were merely present, and therefore, not a party to the assault, theft, or robbery.
- No Violence: this is a partial defence where you argue that you are guilty of theft, but you did not commit any violence so there was no robbery.
