Victor Wang, Criminal Lawyer - Mandarin Speaking Criminal Lawyer
Admitted to the legal profession in 2013, Victor initially worked as a Court registrar at the Ringwood Magistrates’ Court, where he developed a meticulous knowledge of court processes and built excellent relationships with Judicial Officers and prosecutors.
Speaking fluent Mandarin, Victora began his career with a Chinese generalist practitioner, where he exclusively managed and attended to all criminal law work. Victor brought his invaluable experience and aptitude for criminal law to our team at Dribbin and Brown Criminal Lawyers in 2016.
While initially assisting with matters for our Chinese-speaking clients, Victor is experienced with various criminal law matters, including traffic offences and intervention orders.
Victor shares our passion and commitment to providing unparalleled service and achieving exceptional client outcomes. With his compassion, integrity and outstanding attention to detail, Victor is a gifted criminal lawyer and a valued team member.
Victor’s recent case outcomes:
1. Sexual Assault - Diversion granted – Melbourne Magistrates’ Court
Our client sexually touched a female employee on the buttocks at a bar after work. The offending was captured on CCTV.
Before going to Court, our client experienced significant extra-curial punishment. He lost his job as a senior executive, experienced associated financial loss and negative publicity, and relocated his family.
The client believed that a criminal record, or worse yet, a conviction for a sex offence, would seriously impact his chances of applying for an executive position at a new company. He is a mature-aged father and the sole breadwinner for his family.
Victor prepared an application for a diversion order, highlighting the client’s age, lack of priors, genuine remorse, response to the offending, insight developed through subsequent counselling, mental health issues at the time, therapy, and the array of punishment already experienced outside of Court for the offending.
The diversion application was heard in open Court, where the victim read a lengthy impact statement. The Magistrate took some time to consider the matter and ultimately determined our client suitable for diversion, considering the compelling mitigatory factors advanced at the hearing.
Our client was immensely grateful to our firm for achieving this outcome after many months of relentless effort and hard work.
2. Leaving a child in a car – Diversion granted – Moorabbin Justice Centre
Our client left her 7 year old son in a locked car for 40 minutes on a 32 degree day while shopping at Coles. The maximum penalty for an offence of this nature is 6 months imprisonment. A passer-by saw the child distressed – crying, sweating, and knocking on the window from inside the car. This witness called emergency services, and police arrived shortly to rescue the child.
The objective seriousness of this offending comes from the risk of serious harm to a child and its prevalence in our community, making it a challenging case to achieve diversion. Nevertheless, we made every effort to pursue the best outcome for our client.
Victor tendered detailed written submissions backed by evidence of her job in a university, a favourable DHHS investigation report, and character references. The Magistrate was initially reluctant to grant diversion due to strong general deterrence considerations; however, after detailed submissions, the learned Magistrate ultimately agreed to diversion and the opportunity to avoid a criminal record.
3. Breach FVIO – Charges Withdrawn – Moorabbin Justice Centre
Victor represented a client charged with two counts of breaching a Family Violence Intervention Order (FVIO) after attending his child’s school on two separate occasions. An exception clause on the order allowed him to attend school with 24 hours of written notice to the child’s mother. On the first occasion, he texted her at 9.15 am and on the second, he texted her at 9.28 am the day before; she acknowledged his text. On each occasion, he arrived at the school before 9.00 am, witnessed by the child’s mother, who reported him to the police for breaching the 24-hour rule.
In case conferencing with the prosecution, Victor argued that the FVIO breach should not be viewed as a strict liability offence and that examining the accused’s intent is necessary. DPP v Cope and derivative principles from High Court cases were cited, stating that there would be “an absurdly Draconian result” if the relevant breach did not contain a mens rea element, given how easily a person can inadvertently commit a breach.
Victor argued that our client was doing his best to comply with the order and made reasonable attempts to comply with the order. The prosecution eventually agreed and withdrew all charges.
4. Common Assault (Family Violence) – Charge Withdrawn – Ringwood Magistrates’ Court
Our client was charged with unlawfully assaulting (common assault) his girlfriend by pushing her to the ground during an argument. Before receiving Victor’s advice, he was leaning towards pleading guilty because he admitted to the pushing, and his initial enquiry was whether we could help achieve a diversion order.
After taking detailed instructions, it became clear that the complainant had a history of unreported violence known by several people close to the couple, and, on the day in question, the complainant was erratic and aggressive, throwing items around the room and towards our client. These matters were properly disclosed to police by our client during his police interview; however, they were given little weight once he admitted to pushing her. Victor obtained statements from individuals who had socialised with the couple for many years, including a person present during the argument at the time of the conduct.
In case conferencing, Victor submitted evidence to the prosecution regarding the complainant’s anger issues, aggressive tendencies, and a mostly agreed version of events where the complainant would not stop throwing items around the room while our client tried to calm her down and prevent damage to his property. The push came as a reflex response when our client perceived that his computer was at risk of damage.
Victor argued that our client had a lawful excuse in defence of property and, by extension, self-defence. He argued that the push did not involve excessive force (there was no complainant of pain and certainly no injury) and that it was a reasonable response in the circumstances perceived by our client. Our client had tolerated inexpensive items being thrown, and his rubbish bin kicked over, but could not risk losing his computer.
After reviewing statements from defence witnesses and conducting further enquiries and risk assessments, the prosecution agreed to withdraw the charge.
5. Drive whilst suspended – Charge Withdrawn – Moorabbin Justice Centre
Victor represented a client charged with driving whilst suspended. Our client had his driver’s licence suspended pending completion of a medical review process. Our client completed an assessment with his doctor and was informed that the report would be submitted to VicRoads (a fact not disputed by police). However, the report was not received by VicRoads before the deadline. It was unclear whether the doctor failed to submit it on time or if it was due to an administrative oversight on the part of VicRoads.
In case conferencing with the prosecutor, Victor raised the defence of honest and reasonable mistake of fact. We pointed to the fact that our client, who is elderly, has been seeing the same doctor for many years and is completely reliant on the advice and information provided by this doctor. Victor argued that our client held an honest belief that his doctor would comply with the VicRoads request on his behalf and that this belief was reasonable in all the circumstances.
By the court date, the report had been received by VicRoads upon re-submission. The report was favourable, and our client was assessed as medically fit to drive.
The prosecutor conceded the defence of honest and reasonable mistake of fact and withdrew the charge.
Reviews from Google about Victor at our Moorabbin office
On the day of the hearing, we were unfortunately faced with a very strict and harsh magistrate. However, Victor’s charm, character, and fervour in court stood out. In the end, we got the best outcome possible and it felt like a miracle. I would highly recommend Victor given his professionalism and expertise in the field. Most importantly, he was very humble, understanding, and even has a good sense of humour, cracking jokes to help lighten the situation. If you are ever in trouble, Victor is, without a shred of doubt, the man you want to be representing you.
