Our client is a 37-year-old male who resides in the United States of America and was on vacation visiting his friends in Australia.
He was stopped by police and subjected to a random breath test. The blood alcohol reading was 0.08, and was subsequently charged with driving with mid-range PCA. After the offence, our client returned to the USA.
Prior to engaging us he contacted the court seeking leave to appear by audio/visual link. This was refused by the court and he was advised he would be convicted if he did not attend.
Our client then came to us anxious and confused, not knowing what to do.
We first obtained an affidavit from our client clearing outlining the reasons for his inability to appear and why he could not have a criminal conviction against his name. These reasons included being the sole income earner for his family, potentially losing his job, and his 5-year-old daughter being diagnosed with Noonan syndrome, which required intensive care.
We then obtained character references from his friends and family. These set out our client’s background, financial hardship and that the offending was out of character. Further, we assisted him in preparing an apology letter to the court and completing a traffic offenders program.
We tendered these documents to the court and made oral submissions. As a result, our client was successfully excused from attending court in person and could appear via audio/visual link.
Ultimately, despite the magistrate noting the prior issues with our client’s lack of appearance, His Honour was persuaded by our submissions and sentenced our client to a Conditional Release Order without conviction for a period of 10 months.
Our client was overjoyed with the result.
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We showed him our previous cases where we were successful in having domestic violence charges and the AVO withdrawn.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.
Our client is a 32-year-old man from America living with his husband in Australia. Police were called to their house after a complaint was made by their neighbours who suspected a domestic incident.
Our client and his partner explained to police that our client had recently had major surgery following a motor vehicle accident and that they did not want police intervention. Despite this, officers applied for an apprehended violence order (AVO) against our client.
Our client came to us extremely upset at the situation and stressed with the thought of proceedings against him.
We immediately got to work advising him of the process of AVO proceedings and drafted lengthy representations for the withdrawal of the AVO. Because our client had instructed us early on, we were able to file representations prior to the first court date.
The case was listed at Manly Local Court where police sought an adjournment to determine our representations for the withdrawal of the AVO.
Ultimately, Police were persuaded through our negotiations to withdraw the AVO early in the proceedings.
Our client and his husband were overjoyed, and can now live their lives without concerns of an AVO affecting their future.
Our team recently appeared at Mount Druitt Local Court for a defended Hearing on domestic violence charges.
Our client was an elderly businessman who was facing two sets of domestic violence charges. The first set of charges involved using a carriage service to menace. The second set of charges included common assault and contravene AVO. ⠀
The Police case consisted of the complainant and a witness, as well as extensive telephone records. Police had obtained video recorded statements from our client’s wife and son. They had also obtained phone records of both our client’s phone and his wife’s phone.
Our client had also participated in an interview and stated that he had no memory of the incident. The complainant later told Police that she did not want the charges to proceed, but Police ignored her. ⠀
Despite this, we were able to beat all of the charges. The prosecution in fact withdrew the use carriage service to menace charges mid-way through the Hearing, and the remaining charges were dismissed at the end of the Hearing. ⠀
In the result, our client was able to walk free from Court and spent the New Year with his grateful family.⠀
Our client is a 23-year-old woman suffering from Anxiety, Depression and Post-Traumatic Stress disorder.
Our client was engaged in a verbal argument with her long-term partner of four years. In the course of the argument, our client threatened her partner with a knife. When police attended, she made full admissions to the offending. She was then charged with stalk/intimidate and armed with intent to commit an indictable offence.
Despite the seriousness of the offences, we advised our client that she appeared to be a good candidate for a Section 14 Mental Health Application. This was because she had a pre-existing mental health diagnosis and the offending appeared to have been a result of her conditions.
After explaining the benefits of a Section 14 application, she instructed us to commence the process. We first enrolled our client with one of our preferred psychologists who had experience in preparing Section 14 reports. As we had worked with this psychologist before, we knew the report would be well-prepared and would address all of the relevant matters.
We also obtained a letter from our client’s treating psychologist as well as our client’s medical history.
We filed all of our documents with the court and also prepared written submissions addressing the relevant factors under Section 15 of the Mental Health Cognitive Impairment Forensic Provisions Act 2020.
At court we argued that the matter was more appropriately addressed through psychological intervention rather than criminal proceedings. The Magistrate agreed with our submissions and dismissed the case pursuant to a Section 14 order. As such, our client does not have a criminal conviction nor a finding of guilt against her.
Our client and her family were overjoyed with the result.
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