Case: Full acquittal of family violence charges on appeal to the District Court.
Our client is carer for her elderly mother. Another sibling (complainant) over the course of 20 years had engaged in conduct that saw her being leaseholder of the mother’s property. Our client attended the property with her mother looking for items that were put in the family tip – land that in the past, the complainant arranged to have transferred to herself at a time that her father, who was the title holder, was suffering dementia. On retrieving the items, the complainant intercepted our client and her mother leading to allegations of assault, criminal damage to a mobile phone and trespass.
Charges/ Ch1 (Trespass); Ch2 (Assault); Ch3 (Criminal Damage)
Result/ Full acquittal of all charges
At hearing in the local court, a magistrate dismissed the assault and trespass charges on the evidence of another witness present at the time and also found the complainant not to be credible. She found our client guilty of criminal damage to a mobile phone because our client admitted that she swiped the phone out of the complainant’s hand. Our client appealed in the district court on the basis that the extent of damage to the phone could not have been caused by our client as the phone landed on soft ground. The judge agreed and dismissed the remaining charge.