Threatening to destroy or damage property

Offence title:

Threatening to destroy or damage property

Act:

199 Crimes Act (NSW)

Offence:

(1)   A person who, without lawful excuse, makes a threat to another, with the intention of causing that other to fear that the threat would be carried out:

(a)   to destroy or damage property belonging to that other or to a third person, or

(b)   to destroy or damage the first-mentioned person’s own property in a way which that person knows will or is likely to endanger the life of, or to cause bodily injury to, that other or a third person,

commits an offence.

(2)   A person who, during a public disorder and without lawful excuse, makes a threat to another, with the intention of causing that other to fear that the threat would be carried out:

(a)   to destroy or damage property belonging to that other or to a third person, or

(b)   to destroy or damage the first-mentioned person’s own property in a way which that person knows will or is likely to endanger the life of, or to cause bodily injury to, that other or a third person,

commits an offence.

Penalty:

(1)   Imprisonment 5 years.

(2)   Imprisonment 7 years.

Summary/Indictable/mixed:

Mixed

Jurisdiction:

Local, District or Supreme Court.

How committed:

(1)   Following a workplace termination, the terminated employee threatens to damage the managers car.

(2)   During a political protest outside a rival party’s office, a protester threatens to throw a Molotov cocktail at the offices.

Important note:

For property to be damaged, it must be tangible in nature.

Reference to property includes a reference to wild creatures that have been tamed or are ordinarily kept in captivity and includes any other wild creatures or their carcasses but only if they

(a)   have been reduced into possession that has not been lost or abandoned, or

(b)   are in the course of being reduced into possession.

An act done by a person under a reasonable belief that the person had a right to do the act does not constitute an element of any offence under this Part. Perhaps the simplest explanation of this is to consider joint marital property, where one party asserts, they have damaged their own property.

Damaging property includes removing, obliterating, defacing or altering the unique identifier of the property. The unique identifier is any numbers, letters or symbols that are marked on or attached to the property