Our 18-year-old client was charged with domestic violence common assault and stalk or intimidate intending to cause fear of physical or mental harm (DV). The police charged our client for snatching the phone from his mother’s hands as she went to call triple zero to police for help before kicking an ottoman nearby, following an argument.
Something common that unfortunately occurs is that our client, ended up talking to police in an interview before getting legal advice, not knowing he was entitled to remain silent. As a result, he had made admissions adverse to his case leaving him with limited options.
Our client was a 12 years student studying for his HSC exams. He has no previous criminal history and inspired to study hard to get into medicine at Sydney University. Wanting to become a doctor, he was understandably concerned as to the prospects of now facing criminal convictions.
Our client approached CDLA and spoke to our Senior lawyer Kate Miller who patiently listened and prepared our clients case for the purposes of trying to avoid a conviction for our client. Kate did an exceptional job in thoroughly preparing and powerfully presenting our clients case before the Magistrate at the Bankstown Local Court.
Kate had pointed out to the court the fact that our client committed these offences in the context of studying 10 hours a day for his exams and UCAT for medicine. He was extremely stressed and in a bad place. This incident was a one-off out of character incident. Amongst other strong submissions made by Kate, the Magistrate agreed and decided not to convict our client.
Our client was sentenced with a non-conviction section 10(1)(a) penalty. This meant that our client received no criminal record and can put this incident behind him and now focus on his bright future without the burden of a conviction.