SA Seized Property by Police - Still No Field Receipt?

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26 October 2018
1
0
1
South Australia
I was raided over 5 months ago. The police took computers, a dehydrator, cannabis, dried cacti, my entire $5k collection of rare cacti along with a bunch of random stuff like a tattoo gun.

My understanding with the law is that the police must issue you a field receipt detailing everything seized from the property within 2 weeks or a month. It's now been over 5 months. I've left a message for the officer in charge and received no reply.

Is there some sort of law regarding field receipts under Criminal Law and the time in which they must be handed over?

I've been raided and had stuff seized before and received the field receipt the same day so this is very weird... Is there perhaps a deadline which if they don't give a field receipt by a certain time the items become inadmissible in court? I'm hoping so.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks.
 

xshellsx78

Member
10 March 2019
4
0
1
45
South Australia
I have been in the same situation. Raided in November 2014. Arrested and charged. The police tookine and my partners mobile phones, Samsung tablet, laptops and a coffee percolator jug.
The only item they put on the only field receipt we were ever given was
‘Flat bottom glass condenser jug’!
I hounded the lead detective for months. My mobile and tablet were on hire purchase - when I told the company I didn’t have the items because the police had taken them I was told not to worry as I could send the company a copy of the field receipt. Once I explained that I didn’t have one things got hard. I told the company to take it up with the detective and gave the company his phone number.
After court proceedings were finished there was no mention of the seized items being forfeited or destroyed. There was no mention at all. My partner was incarcerated I wasn’t. In January 2016 I refused to leave the police station until I got my belongings back. I was told that they didn’t have any of my belongings. They had put absolutely everything on a receipt in my partners name. And so they could only be released to him. The next day a letter arrived informing me the items had been destroyed as the collection time had expired!

Good luck. I hope you have a more successful outcome. Keep me posted if you don’t mind.