Section 418 of the Criminal Code Queensland makes it offence if:

(1) A person who breaks any part, whether external or internal, of a dwelling or any premises, or opens, by unlocking, pulling, pushing, lifting, or any other means whatever, any door, window, shutter, cellar, flap, or other thing, intended to close or cover an opening in a dwelling or any premises, or an opening giving passage from one part of a dwelling or any premises to another, is said to break the dwelling or premises.

(2) A person is said to enter a dwelling or premises as soon as any part of the person’s body or any part of any instrument used by the person is within the dwelling or premises.

(3) A person who obtains entrance into a dwelling or premises by means of any threat or artifice used for that purpose, or by collusion with any person in the dwelling or premises, or who enters any chimney or other aperture of the dwelling or premises permanently left open for any necessary purpose, but not intended to be ordinarily used as a means of entrance, is deemed to have broken and entered the dwelling or premises.

Premises includes any building or structure and part of a building or structure other than a dwelling, a tent, caravan, vehicle and any similar place.

To prove this offence, the police must show the court beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused has entered or is otherwise in the dwelling of another with the intent to commit an indictable offence in that dwelling.

There are many defences available to this offence, including duress, necessity, intoxication, identification issues (not the accused person), honest claim of right to be in the dwelling, the seal of the property was not broken, the persons did not enter the property and consent.

The maximum penalty for this offence is life imprisonment, depending on a number of factors and circumstances. This is why it is crucial to engage with one of our experienced lawyers.