Criminal Code Act 1995

A person who aids, abets, counsels or procures the commission of an offence by another person is taken to have committed that offence and is punishable accordingly.

For the person to be guilty:

the person’s conduct must have in fact aided, abetted, counselled or procured the commission of the offence by the other person; and

the offence must have been committed by the other person.

For the person to be guilty, the person must have intended that:

his or her conduct would aid, abet, counsel or procure the commission of any offence (including its fault elements) of the type the other person committed; or

his or her conduct would aid, abet, counsel or procure the commission of an offence and have been reckless about the commission of the offence (including its fault elements) that the other person in fact committed.

Subsection (3) has effect subject to subsection (6).

A person cannot be found guilty of aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring the commission of an offence if, before the offence was committed, the person:

terminated his or her involvement; and

took all reasonable steps to prevent the commission of the offence.

A person may be found guilty of aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring the commission of an offence even if the other person has not been prosecuted or has not been found guilty.

Any special liability provisions that apply to an offence apply also for the purposes of determining whether a person is guilty of that offence because of the operation of subsection (1).

If the trier of fact is satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that a person either:

is guilty of a particular offence otherwise than because of the operation of subsection (1); or

is guilty of that offence because of the operation of subsection (1);