WHAT ARE SOME OF THE THINGS YOU NOTICE WORKING IN CRIMINAL LAW?
WELL HERE IS A LITTLE OF MY INSIGHT:
It tends to be common knowledge that there are a significant number of Domestic Violence cases before the court where the defendant was indeed, not guilty. The most significant case recently was Hazem El Masri, the famous rugby league player and White Ribbon day Ambassador.
In fact, in many of the cases we work on the defendant was often a victim themselves.
When I first started practicing in this area I believed that the laws were essential to protect vulnerable women who were someone’s daughter, sister or mother.
In the “good old days” it was rumoured that the police dealt the louts that beat vulnerable people by giving them back a bit of their own medicine. Well if those days ever existed, they are long gone now.
Today domestic and personal violence laws protect everyone on the community, whether they need protection or not and police often act on allegations without any investigation because there is rarely anything to investigate.
I have seen allegations made by wives against their husbands to obtain the balance of power in a property settlement, neighbour’s making allegations against neighbours
Often the charges include a criminal charge and if a domestic violence criminal offence is alleged then police must also proceed with the criminal charge and vice versa; if a criminal charge is alleged first then police must also apply for the civil order.
The government enacted this legislation because they wanted to ensure that the most serious offenders were held to account.
The Honourable Tony Kelly (Minister for Lands, Minister for Rural Affairs, Minister for Regional Development, and Vice-President of the Executive Council) said on behalf of the Honourable John Hatzistergos “Being convicted of the new offence of domestic violence would leave a permanent stain on a person’s record and would be readily identifiable by a sentencing court or a court making a bail determination.”
Unfortunately, the legislation catches all and although you may not have even raised your hand to the alleged victim, you could still be found guilty of a domestic violence offence and have a permanent stain on your record.
Not only that, the NSW government is now trialling a new Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme. What does this mean for you? The DVDS will enable people to find out if their partner has a history of domestic violence.
So, someone is seeking to take out an apprehensive violence order against you, you’ve been asked to appear in the local court. Let’s look at your options…
Option 1) Accept the order and move on:
This is an option encouraged by most police officers for its simplicity because it does not require the police to prove the case. It is often sold with the line “you don’t have to admit to anything, just accept the order and then back to normal life”. What police don’t tell you is that somewhere down the track it is inevitable that a disagreement will break out and if police are called a second time, this is when that civil order can become a criminal offence.
Only in rare occasions were our clients are undeniably guilty and it results in the best possible outcome; would we advise our clients to accept an order without admissions.
Or Option 2) Find out where you stand and respond appropriately to the allegations.
Many cases can be easily defended in the civil court process. Just because someone is taking an order out against you doesn’t mean that you have to accept that it’s your fault.
By no means am I saying a person is innocent if they did actually maliciously attack their partner, family member or friend; but there are in fact people out there with an intent to cause irreparable harm by exaggerating a situation or worse, by making false allegations.
If you choose to defend the Order…
We all know the old saying about the truth always prevailing: but if you have had an allegation of domestic or personal violence made against you the we always advise our clients to protect themselves.
Protect yourself. Protect your personal belongings, your valuables. Change your log in information and notify family and friends of your concerns.