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Family Violence – Fine Without Conviction

Published · Updated

This is a case of family violence resulting in a fine without conviction.

Following an incident involving our client’s former wife, the police charged our client with the following offences:

The allegations were that after an argument, our client damaged a mutually owned laptop by placing it in a sink full of water, and that he obtained a knife and brandished the knife and requested his former wife to stab him with it. Our client had no prior history and before receiving the charge sheets, he had agreed (without admission) to a Final Intervention Order that included his former wife and their children.
 

We represented the client at the Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court.

The context in which this particular matter occurred was important. The court accepted that our client and his former wife were married for 18 years and that there were no previous allegations of family violence.

It must be noted that our client had no criminal history. Whilst this alone is not necessarily exceptional, it is consistent with the argument that the offending had been out of character and unlikely to be repeated. The client pleaded guilty at the earliest possible opportunity and had expressed genuine remorse for his actions.

The successful outcome of this case was due in large measure to the pro-active steps our client had taken after the incident. These are:

  • self-referring for relationship and anger management counselling
  • his decision not to contest and protract proceedings involving the police application for an Intervention Order
  • several high quality references from referees who had known our client for many years and could attest to his good character

 

After a plea in mitigation, our client received an aggregate fine of $750 and was given 3 months to pay. More importantly, this fine was imposed without the Magistrate recording a conviction.
 
DISCLAIMER: This is a real case study of an actual case from our files. Details pertaining to the client have been changed to protect their privacy. The sentence imposed and the charge have not been altered. These case studies are published to demonstrate real outcomes and give an indication of possible tariffs in Court. We do not guarantee a similar case on these charges will get the same result. Please note that we post results at our discretion, therefore while many case studies are average results, others are notable for their exceptional outcomes. PUBLISHED 17/01/2018