Case Study: Breach of Community Corrections Order by Family Violence
Charges:
- Corrections Order Breach by further offending
- Corrections Order Breach by non-compliance
Factual Background
This matter involved a client who had been charged and convicted of very serious family violence offending involving intentionally causing injury, assaults, threats to kill and drug possession. He was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment and a 2-year community corrections order.
Our client appealed this sentence successfully and was re-sentenced to 6 months’ imprisonment, and a 2-year community corrections order.
He served his 6 months, and then commenced the corrections order in early 2017. Throughout 2017, our client continued to contravene the intervention order put in place to protect the family member whom he had previous charges relating to. He also began to lapse on his attendance on his community corrections order. By mid-way through 2017 he had accumulated an extensive list of breaches of the intervention order. He was charged and taken to Court and received a sentence of a further 3 months’ imprisonment in mid-2018.
In late 2018, he was released and given charges for breaching his corrections order by further offending and non-compliance with the conditions.
Process and Result
In this case, our client was to attend the County Court for his Corrections Breach. This was because he received this order on an appeal. This process involves the matter going straight back to the Judge who sentenced the client, so it can be explained why exactly the order and opportunity given to him was contravened.
This matter involved a large amount of background work, considering the client’s further offending was serious enough to warrant a prison sentence. Our office gathered medical material, and other plea material going towards the client’s circumstances and what has occurred since his release from prison on both occasions.
Our office was able to demonstrate to the Judge that our client had a number of struggles, including being an ongoing victim of unrelated violent crimes, and struggled emotionally through a stressful property settlement involving the family member whom had taken out the intervention order. Through the material we were able to demonstrate that the client had grown in how he responded to stressful and anger-inducing situations with this family member, as he was no longer breaching the order but utilising his lawyers to communicate amicably instead.
We were able to demonstrate that the client’s non-compliance with corrections was made difficult by his personal situation, being released from prison and finding himself homeless, without financial means to support himself or get around to his various appointments.
As such, the Judge decided to find the breaches proven and dismissed them without re-sentencing or making any further order, an incredible outcome. If you are facing breach proceedings call Dribbin & Brown Criminal Defence Lawyers.
