No Jail For Assault Police Causing Actual Bodily Harm
Astor Legal appeared in Coonabarabran Local Court recently.
We were representing an indigenous client who has suffered a very difficult past few years. From his teenage years he had battled drug and alcohol addiction as well as mental illness.
Today he was facing very serious charges including assault police officer in execution of duty causing actual bodily harm.
Our client had repeatedly punched police officers resulting in one of the officers requiring multiple stitches to his face.
Ordinarily, there is a strong possibility of jail for these charges.
To compound this, our client had a lengthy criminal history and had only recently completed an Intensive Corrections Order for similar offences.
Despite this, we were able to persuade the Magistrate not to impose a term of imprisonment.
We made compelling submissions relating to his difficult upbringing (known as Bugmy principles) and highlighted the significant steps he had taken towards rehabilitation and bettering himself.
In the result, our client was able to walk free from Court and will be enjoying Christmas with his grateful family.