Ophelia Hollway

This is a real case study by one of our lawyers. The person who is in charge of this area in the firm is Ophelia Hollway. Ophelia is a Senior Associate and LIV Accredited Criminal Law Specialist at Doogue + George. She has defended a wide range of allegations including sexual offences, drug offences, corporate crime, and driving matters, and served as instructing solicitor in the Coronial Inquest into the Death of Kumanjayi Walker.

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This is a case study on driving whilst disqualified and evading police at the Moorabbin Justice Centre, where the evading police charge was withdrawn and no further licence order was made.

Our client was charged with drink driving (2nd offence) and had his license suspended immediately with section 51 notice.

What is alleged to have occured?

Before his court appearance, he decided to drive to work, knowing he was suspended. He was speeding 17 kph over the speed limit in a slip lane. Police stood in the lane and waved at him to pull him over. He saw them but drove past and the police officer hit his car with his hand but he refused to stop and sped away. Our client drove down side streets before pulling in to a random person’s address and abandoning his car with the ignition still running. A witness called the police and our client was last seen jumping over a back fence and running away.

What happened at court?

We acted on the client’s behalf at the Moorabbin Justice Centre. The charges involved were:

Our client went to Court in relation to his drink driving offence and was disqualified from driving for 16 months.

What was the result?

The matter proceeded as a plea of guilty. During the case conference, we were successfully able to get the evading police charge withdrawn (which carries a 6-month minimum mandatory license suspension). His Honour ultimately fined our client with conviction but did not make any order against his licence. He was also granted a 3-month stay to complete payment for the fine.

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 05/04/2016