Criminal Damage Charges Case Study
Assault; Criminal Damage – Recklessly Cause Injury, Breach Intervention Order. Ringwood Magistrates’ Court.
Facts
The client had a dispute with his ex-partner in relation to her beginning a new relationship. Police alleged the client cut up her clothes and grabbed her phone from her to see who she had been talking to. It was also put that during the struggle he had slapped her across the face in order to get the phone.
Results
This matter took some time to come to Court. By the time it did, the alleged victim had moved interstate, leaving her children with the client. Importantly for the client, he made a ‘no comment’ interview when being questioned by police (i.e. he answered all questions put to him with a response of ‘no comment’). This meant that the only evidence police had to rely on to prove the charge was from the alleged victim, who was now living interstate.
Given the circumstances – no interview, a reluctant witness and no pictures of any injury – we put to the prosecution that they had a very weak case. Initially they disagreed, but following a contest mention (a Court hearing designed to facilitate further discussions between police and defence), the prosecution agreed to withdraw all charges.
