Our client a 49-year-old man with a history of ‘assault police’ and ‘destroy/damage property’. In December 2023, he was served with an AVO preventing him from contacting the PINOP (‘Person in Need of Protection’). In January 2024, he was charged with his first ‘contravene AVO’, then with his second ‘contravene AVO’ for contacting the PINOP constantly between February and April 2024. In March 2024, he was charged with ‘use carriage service to harass/menace/offend’ against the same PINOP. In May 2024, he was charged with his third ‘contravene AVO’ against the same PINOP. Our client had been released on bail for each of the ‘contravene AVO’ offences. In July 2024, he was sentenced for two of the ‘contravene AVO’ offences and received a 12-month Community Corrections Order (‘CCO’). In August 2024, while subject to bail for the ‘use carriage service to harass/menace/offend’ and while subject to the CCO for the previous contravene offences, our client was charged with a fourth ‘contravene AVO’ against the same PINOP. Given his history and this being his fourth ‘contravene AVO’ offence in a period of 8 months, he was refused bail by the Police and by the Court. A further detention application was put in by the Police that withdrew his bail for the remainder of the ‘contravene AVO’ offences.
Our client had just accepted a new position at a renowned company but could not commence his employment due to him being in custody. This is when he reached out to us and sought the help of our criminal lawyer Nora Sayed. Our solicitor requested that the Court relist all his matters and thoroughly prepared to have them all finalised as quickly as possible. She presented the Court with relevant evidence of his social and professional support in the community and his employment prospects and petitioned the Court to release him subject to an additional CCO given these protective features. Despite a history that disentitled him to any leniency, the Court agreed to release the client subject to a further CCO and he was able to save his employment. Our client learnt a valuable lesson about the seriousness with which the Courts treat breaches of AVO orders but received a final chance to redeem himself by rejoining the community. Our client was released the same day as his court matters and was grateful that Nora had prioritised his matters and helped him be released from custody at the earliest opportunity.
