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.⠀
Astor Legal recently appeared at Parramatta Local Court for a 19-year-old man who was facing a 3 month suspension for exceeding his demerit points.
Our client had committed a speeding over 45km/hr offence for which he had served a 6 month police suspension.
At the time he was still only a P1 licence holder and as such the offence took him over his demerit points as well.
At Court the Magistrate dismissed a number of similar licence appeals for people with far less serious offences.
Despite this, we were able to persuade the Magistrate that he had a strong need for a licence and had significant responsibilities which he required his licence for.
These included his attendance at TAFE and his employment as an apprentice electrician.
In the result, the Magistrate allowed the appeal completely.
This means that our client faces no suspension at all and can continue to drive.
Our client is a well-known media personality who is also a board member of a domestic violence charity.
He was on holiday with his wife and two children in the NSW South Coast when an incident occurred between himself and his wife.
Police were called to the scene. When they arrived they video recorded a statement with his wife. This is known as a Domestic Violence Evidence in Chief (DVEC).
Despite our client protesting his innocence, officers applied for an apprehended violence order (AVO) against him.
Our client came to us distressed at what had occurred and also concerned about the possibility of media attention.
We immediately go to work in preparing lengthy and detailed legal representations for the withdrawal of the AVO.
Ultimately, after significant negotiation with Police we were able to persuade them to withdraw the AVO early in proceedings.
This saved our client significant time and expense. Both he and his family can move on with their lives without the AVO hanging over their heads.
Our client is a 22-year-old professional rugby player. He was in the Sydney CBD with 3 friends.
While walking out of ‘The Star’ he was attempting to hail a taxi. The driver refused to allow our client into the taxi and began verbally abusing our client.
Our client and a friend approached the driver side window.
A physical altercation ensured with bystanders having to step between the parties. The taxi driver sustained cuts to his face and significant bleeding.
As a result, our client was charged with Affray and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. The Police facts sheet alleged that our client had punched the driver numerous times and attempted to choke him.
He was also issued with a banning notice from the Star.
Our client’s instructions were that he had only slapped the driver.
He had spoken to other lawyers who advised him that he would have to accept the Facts Sheet and charges and that he could not avoid a conviction.
We took a different view.
We immediately began writing ‘representations’ to have both charges withdrawn in lieu of our client pleading guilty to a charge of Common assault.
We also began negotiating for the Facts Sheet to be heavily amended to delete any references to our client punching the driver and the driver being injured.
We also were able to have the banning order revoked. Ultimately our amendments to the Facts were agreed.
We provided our client with our specialised character reference and apology letter guides. We obtained references confirming that he was heavily involved in charity work and that a criminal conviction would affect his ability to travel and it could lead to fines and suspensions from the NRL.
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 her discretion not to impose a criminal conviction.
We were also able to use our public relations specialists to ensure that the case did not garner any media attention.
Our client is a 41-year-old man who had been in a relationship with a female partner for 12 months. They were also work colleagues.
Police alleged that on one Saturday in August, our client had pushing her onto a bed, grab her by the vagina and twisted.
They also alleged that on a separate occasion in October he had threatened to kill her. They further alleged that on another occasion in September our client had kicked her.
The complainant only contacted Police after our client reported her workplace misbehaviour to a manger.
Our client denied all of the allegations.
We immediately began preparing a defence strategy.
First, we asked our client to provide screenshots of all messages sent between himself and his partner at and after the time of the incidents.
The messages showed that there were no arguments or complaints by his partner and indeed, she was happy.
At the Hearing, we expertly cross-examined her and showed her all of the messages. She tried to claim that the messages had been doctored.
We then called for her to show the Court her phone. Unsurprisingly, she tried to resist this, but the Magistrate insisted on it occurring.
Once her phone was obtained, we located the messages and she was forced to concede that she had sent those messages.
The Magistrate dismissed two of the three charges.
A conviction appeal was filed to the District Court. The appellate Judge agreed with our argument that the final charge should also have been dismissed.
Our client is elated that he can finally move on with his life and is considering civil action against the complainant.
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