Our 48 year old client worked as a laser printing operator and lived in Sydney’s Western Suburbs. He was recently married and had no previous criminal convictions against his name.
At the time of being charged by police, he had plans to travel overseas for his honeymoon after the court hearing. For that reason, he was concerned of the prospects of facing a possible criminal conviction if found guilty in court- and how this will affect him travelling overseas.
He had a history of epilepsy and seizures, which caused involuntary movements of his body.
A verbal argument ensued between him and his mother one day.
The allegations were that he assaulted his mother by shaking her, and damaging the walls of the house by punching and kicking.
Police attended the scene and took a video statement from the mother. Police charged our client with destroy/damage property, common assault and applied for an Apprehended Domestic Violence Order (ADVO) against him.
When police served their evidence to our office, it contained statements from the alleged victim.
After speaking with our client, it became apparent that the damage to the walls happened a long time ago when he was having seizures and fell against the wall.
It also became apparent that the alleged victim, his mum, was not willing to make complaints against her son and did not wish to give evidence.
The investigating police officer was aware of all of these, yet still decided to charge him anyway.
The matter proceeded to hearing at the Burwood Local Court.
Before the hearing started, our senior criminal lawyer, Fahim Khan negotiated with the prosecution.
Our defence team successfully struck a deal, and convinced the prosecution to drop all criminal charges against our client. this was on the basis that our client consent to the AVO on a without admissions basis. This meant that although the AVO becomes final, it is not a criminal charge, and he does not agree to the allegations in it.
The AVO was consented to for 6 months with mandatory orders only.
During the negotiations process at court, our defence team highlighted to the prosecution all the weaknesses in it’s evidence.
As a result, all the charges were withdrawn.
This meant that our client avoided any criminal conviction.
His mother wasn’t required to go through the stress of being required to give evidence in the witness box against her son.
Our client was extremely happy with the outcome as this meant that he did not have to worry about losing his job or have difficulties travelling overseas for his honeymoon. Just as importantly, our client and his mother were able to maintain a positive mother-son relationship, and move on with their lives.