Case: Charged after acting in Self-Defence.
Our client attended a friend’s birthday party at a pub. One of the attendees was drunk and assaulting girls at the party touching them and trying to kiss them. One of the girls was our client’s girlfriend and our client had a verbal argument with the offender who was ejected from the venue. The offender returned later and lunged at our client who then acted in self-defence by kicking and punching the offender. Our client was charged.
Charges/ Ch1 (recklessly cause injury); Ch2 (unlawful assault); Ch3 (unlawful assault)
Result/ Ch1, 2: withdrawn; Ch3: Diversion granted
Our client was on a student visa and if he was convicted it would have affected his application for permanent residency. Initially Legal Aid had carriage of our client’s file and Diversion was refused. Our lawyer successfully negotiated with the prosecutor to withdraw the most serious charges and made new submissions for Diversion which was then granted by a magistrate.