AVO Withdrawn After Representations

Last week Astor Legal was again successful in persuading police to withdraw an Apprehended Violence Order (AVO).

Our client was an international student who recently moved into shared accommodation with a friend.  The pair started arguing which resulted in Police being called to their house by another friend.

Our client came to us distressed, particularly because of the possible impact of the AVO on his employment prospects and citizenship in Australia.

Despite receiving advice from other lawyers that he needed to wait for the hearing date – some 12 months away – our client came to us looking for another solution.

We showed him our previous cases where we were successful in having domestic violence charges and the AVO withdrawn.

Despite the Person in Need of Protection (PINOP) insisting on the AVO proceeding, we were able to obtain statements from our client and other housemates which cast doubt on the version of events the PINOP had told police.

We then drafted lengthy representations for the withdrawal of the AVO prior to the Hearing date. Critical parts of our representations included our client’s version of the events, the prosecution’s failure to call witnesses and the defendant and PINOP having no form of contact with one another since the application for the AVO was filed.

Ultimately the Police were persuaded through our negotiations to withdraw the AVO early in the proceedings.

Despite the Hearing date still being almost a year away, our team of specialist Burwood AVO lawyers were able to liaise with Burwood Local Court to have the matter listed earlier to formally withdraw the AVO.

We appeared on our client’s behalf and the court was persuaded to AVO formally dismiss.

Our client was overjoyed with not just AVO being withdrawn, but also saving much time and expense associated with proceeding to Hearing.