RECENT RESULTS BY ISAAC

• AVO Withdrawn After Representations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We showed him our previous cases where we were successful in having domestic violence charges and the AVO withdrawn.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Our client was overjoyed with not just AVO being withdrawn, but also saving much time and expense associated with proceeding to Hearing. 
• Section 10 for Mid Range Drink Driving on Appeal

Our client is a young doctor who was caught with an 0.08 blood alcohol reading after being stopped for a random breath test. He was subsequently charged with driving with mid-range PCA.

In the Local Court he instructed another firm to appear for him. He was convicted and given six month disqualification at Downing Centre Local Court.

Not happy with his representation or the outcome, he came to us after filing a severity appeal.

We assessed his case and explained how to get a Section 10 for drink driving.

This involved obtaining character references from his colleagues and family setting out his need for a licence. We also provided our client with our apology letter guide and had him prepare an updated and stronger apology letter which addressed a number of factors that were not covered in his initial letter.

Our criminal lawyers in Sydney appeared at Sydney District Court and made submissions in support of a Section 10 non-conviction order. In addition to our client’s need to be on call and attend the hospital at short notice and at odd hours, we set out that he had already spent almost 4 months off the road waiting for the appeal to be heard.

Despite strong opposition from the prosecution, we were able to persuade the court to allow the appeal.

Our client was ultimately re-sentenced to a conditional release order for six months, allowing him to start driving again and ensuring his criminal record remains clear.
• Sexual Assault Charges Dropped Within Weeks

Astor Legal successfully had another client’s sexual assault charges withdrawn at an early stage following negotiations with the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

Our client is a 38-year-old engineer who was in the midst of a messy divorce and separation from his wife. There had been ongoing issues for some time.

Ostensibly to gain the upper hand in family law proceedings, his wife fabricated a number of sexual assault allegations against him. Police arrested him and bail refused him. They also applied for an AVO which prevented him from contacting his wife or his children.

Our client initially retained another law firm and was refused bail in the Local Court. After he retained us we made a successful Supreme Court bail application. This required offering an onerous ankle monitoring condition, daily reporting, the surrender of a passport and a surety to surrender $50,000 to the court.

Following his release, we began preparing representations to the DPP for the withdrawal of the case.

Central to this was highlighting that our client’s wife had obtained legal advice from a family lawyer shortly before making the complaint to police. We were also able to subpoena text messages and phone records. These painted a story that was in stark contrast to the wife’s version. Importantly, there was no complaint of sexual assault in the text messages.

Within weeks we were able to file the representations with the DPP while the case was still in at Campbelltown Local Court, using our proven formula for how to get sexual assault charges dropped.

Ultimately, on the next court date the DPP chose to withdraw all charges against our client. Shortly afterwards we were also able to get the AVO dropped.

As a result of our efforts, our client is now free to spend time with his children without any restrictions.