No conviction for domestic violence Assault

Our client is a 28-year-old IT professional from the United Kingdom. He was in Australia as part of his work contract.

He had an argument with his partner who called Police.

As a result, he was charged with common assault and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. The Police facts sheet alleged that he threw her to ground and kicked her several times, causing bruising.
Our client’s partner subsequently wrote to Police asking for the charges to be dropped, however Police refused.

After speaking to other lawyers, he came to us and instructed us that he did not throw his partner to the ground or kick her, but he did push her, causing her to stumble backwards.

We immediately contacted Police and began negotiations to withdraw the more serious charge of Assault Occasioning Actual Bodily Harm and amend the fact sheet to reflect his instructions.

Ultimately, the references to throwing his partner to the ground and kicking her were removed from the Facts Sheet and the Assault Occasioning Actual Bodily Harm charge was withdrawn.

We provided our client with our specialised character reference and apology letter guides and obtained his employment contract which confirmed a criminal conviction would affect his employability.

We made lengthy oral submissions in Court, stressing the low objective seriousness of the offending as well as our client’s need to be conviction free.

The magistrate accepted our submissions and exercised his discretion not to impose a criminal conviction. As a result, our client is able to continue working in Australia.