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RESULTS

Reckless Conduct,Dangerous Driving Pursued By Police And Evade Police Withdrawn / Fine, Without Conviction

December 7, 2024

Case: Alleged CBD Police Chase Against Ducati Rider Found To Be False On Review of Footage.

Our client was riding his Ducati in the CBD with a group of friends also on motor bikes. He was later charged with dangerous driving while being pursued by police.

Charges/ Ch1 (Dangerous Driving Pursued By Police); Ch2 (Dangerous Driving); Ch3 (Evade Police); Ch4 (Reckless Conduct Endangering Serious Injury); Ch5 (Reckless Conduct Endangering Life); Ch6 (Disobey Red Light); Ch7 (Drive On Tram Tracks

Result/ Ch1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Withdrawn; Ch6, 7 Plea Guilty: Fine Without Conviction, No Loss Of Licence, Costs Awarded Against Police

Our lawyers reviewed all the police camera footage and noted inconsistencies in police statements as to what was shown in the footage. At a Contest Mention Hearing, the Magistrate failed to see the reckless conduct or dangerous driving. Despite this, the prosecutor sought to adjourn the matter to a Contested Hearing. Prior to the the Hearing, the prosecutor offered to withdraw charges 1 to 5 which carried mandatory licence losses. Our client sought costs from Victoria Police which was granted by the magistrate as we had made prior offers to resolve on the less serious charges that were not in dispute.

Dangerous Driving Pursued By Police Withdrawn / Adjourned Undertaking, Without Conviction

December 7, 2024

Case: Midnight Police Chase Resolved on Lower Charge.

Our client allegedly drove dangerously in the early hours of the morning by driving through stop signs and give way signs at speed while being pursued by police.

Charges/ Ch1 (Dangerous Driving Pursued By Police); Ch2 (Dangerous Driving); Ch3 (Evade Police); Ch4 (Possess Drug Of Dependence)

Result/ Ch1, 2, 4 withdrawn; Ch3, plea guilty: adjourned undertaking without conviction, mandatory 6 months licence loss

Our lawyers reviewed all the police camera footage and noted that no lights on police vehicles were on at the time that our client was being pursued. Further police stated that drugs “fell” out of our client’s pocket, however on review of the bodycam footage it was clear that the drugs were already on the ground and it could not be said that they belonged to our client. Prosecution agreed to resolve the matter on the lesser charge of evade police with all other charges withdrawn. While our client lost his licence for 6 months which is the mandatory minimum, the more serious charges which were withdrawn carried a 1 year mandatory minimum loss of licence.

Hoon Offences / No Licence Loss, Fine Without Conviction

November 7, 2024

Case: Hoon Case Resolved On Plea After Rejecting Sentencing Indication

Our client was charged with driving a dedicated track vehicle on a road near his property. His axel snapped and he ended up in a ditch.

Charges/ Ch1 (Driving Disqualified); Ch2 (Use Fraudulent Number Plate); Ch3 (Drive Unregistered Vehicle); Ch4 (Use Vehicle with Mistaken Number Plate); Ch3 (Use Unregistered Vehicle)

Result/ Ch4 withdrawn; Ch1, 2, 4, 5 plea guilty – fine without conviction, no licence loss

Our lawyers negotiated a withdrawal of charge 3 and sought a sentencing indication on the basis of the prosecutor and police conduct in using our confidential communications with them to fill gaps in their case. The magistrate indicated a licence loss even though it would mean our client losing his job and not being able to visit his kids who were 150km away. Our client rejected the indication and we had the matter moved to Melbourne for a plea of guilty. Our client provided us with some further plea materials and the magistrate did not exercise their discretion to further suspend him on the basis that he was relicensed, needed it for work, and there was no subsequent offending.

ANOM Phone Case Trafficking Firearms / Community Corrections Order, Jail Avoided

October 30, 2024

Case: Jail avoided in ANOM encrypted phone case.

Our client was arrested as part of the ANOM case where an encrypted phone was developed by the FBI in association with the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and distributed by the AFP. No phone was found in our client’s possession, however the AFP intercepted communications that were said to have been attributed to our client showing that he had trafficked firearms.

Charges/ Ch1 (Trafficking firearms); Ch2 (Possess firearm); Ch3 (Commit indictable offence on bail)

Result/ Ch2, 3 withdrawn; Ch1 12 month Community Corrections Order with 70 hours unpaid community work, with conviction.

Our lawyers cross-examined the AFP during Committal and were critical that the AFP and FBI were complicit by their actions in assisting users of the ANOM phone in committing crimes and entrapping them. Further, the lawfulness of intercepting messages by the AFP was called into question and is likely to take years for a decision from the High Court.

Our client had spent a lengthy time on remand prior to being granted bail and was on strict bail conditions. He sought a plea resolution to finalise the matter and move on with his life. We negotiated concessions with the prosecution and reduction of charges. Prosecution sought further jail time. Our barrister argued that a Community Corrections Order is in range on the basis of the time our client spent in custody, years of onerous bail conditions which were fully complied with, rehabilitation, as well as giving up valid defences. The magistrate was persuaded not to jail our client and impose a CCO with unpaid community work.

Theft of Motor Vehicle Charge Withdrawn

October 2, 2024

Case: Ex-Gf Turned & Reported Run Around Car Stolen On Bf

Client had come from a long day and had an argument with his ex-girlfriend. He decided to defuse the situation by leaving and used her father’s beater to get to where he wanted to go. He’d used it many times before and didn’t need her permission but she insisted on contacting police and an investigation occurred even though the car broke down a mile away from the house it departed and was recovered within an hour.

Our client was charged with theft of motor vehicle which carries a mandatory 2 year licence cancellation. He 

Charges/ Ch1 (theft of motor vehicle); 

Result/ Ch1:  withdrawn; 

Client had maintained his innocence and provided everything necessary to our BCL lawyer who succesfully negotiated the matter through to a contest mention and continued to apply pressue on the prosecution and police informant. Our disclosure requests were comprehensive and the 000 call recording was not forthcoming. At the contest mention, the charge was withdrawn without costs.

Police Messed Up By Laying Only One Charge And The Wrong Charge

October 2, 2024

Case: Charge of recklessly cause injury withdrawn to no injury

Our client was involved in a dispute at a popular Melbourne nightclub on Chapel st whereby it was alleged he headbutted an individual which he had an argument with. The police Informant took a very long time to charge our client but eventually he received a brief with a single charge for recklessly causing injury. It was only one headbutt so there was no injury fortunately. The appropriate charge in this instance would be an unlawful assault charge which is a summary offence and has a statute of limitations period of 12 months (offender has to be charged within 12 months of date of offence). 

By the time the first mention of the charge in Court, the offence date had passed 12 months. Therefore the police Informant couldnt lay the charge anymore. One of our solicitors raised this issue with a prosecutor and fortunately we had a response from a reasonable prosecutor who agreed and accepted our offer to allow for a withdrawal of charge without costs. 

Charges/ Ch1 ; Recklessly cause injury (s18 of the Crimes Act.

Result/ Withdrawal of charge.

Criminal Damage, Assault Withdrawn / Adjourned Undertaking Without Conviction

October 2, 2024

Case: Speeding charge withdrawn due to VicRoads administrative error.

Our client was intercepted by Highway Patrol on the Calder freeway for driving at 139 km/h. The Police Officer provided our client with a defective infringement for speeding in an 80 km/h, when the freeway was a 100 km/h zone.

Our client contested the infringement, however he only received a document from VicRoads, stating that he lost his license. Eventually, he was given a Court summons after not driving for 6 months.

Charges/ Ch1 (Exceed speed by 59 km/h); Ch2 (Drive prohibited vehicle)

Result/ 12 month good behaviour bond, complete a road trauma awareness course, without conviction 

Our lawyer negotiated with the Prosecution to withdraw the speeding charge, as we successfully argued that amending the charge would result in our client being charged with a new offence. Our client was able to keep his license as the charge was withdrawn.

Exceed Speed by 59kph / Withdrawn

October 2, 2024

Case: Speeding charge withdrawn due to VicRoads administrative error.

Our client was intercepted by Highway Patrol on the Calder freeway for driving at 139 km/h. The Police Officer provided our client with a defective infringement for speeding in an 80 km/h, when the freeway was a 100 km/h zone.

Our client contested the infringement, however he only received a document from VicRoads, stating that he lost his license. Eventually, he was given a Court summons after not driving for 6 months.

Charges/ Ch1 (Exceed speed by 59 km/h); Ch2 (Drive prohibited vehicle)

Result/ 12 month good behaviour bond, complete a road trauma awareness course, without conviction 

Our lawyer negotiated with the Prosecution to withdraw the speeding charge, as we successfully argued that amending the charge would result in our client being charged with a new offence. Our client was able to keep his license as the charge was withdrawn.

Series of Burglary Charges

September 29, 2024

Case: International tourists charged with serial burglaries 

In early 2024, Victoria Police cracked down on a group of Irish tourists commiting burglarties around central Victoria. Apparently this trend had commenced by this particular group in 2019 as part of a roofing scam however due to the manner of offending, their crimes were only being detected in late 2023. 

Our office acted for two individuals accused of burgling more than 20 homes. We acted quickly in summary case conferencing the matter with prosecution within 12 days of arrest and disclosure was not complied with prior to the contest mention which lead to a costs order being made against police for a wasted day in Court.

Accused of burgling more than 20 homes, police relied on circumstancial evidence. Despite Victoria Police utilising significant resources such as police surveillance unit including telephone intercept warrants and vehicle tracking devices, police were unable to catch them in the act or with anything that was able to be directly linked back to any of the offending. Police alleged that the Modus Operandi of this group is what is in common with the rest of the Irish burglary cases you’ll have seen over the news in mid 2024. 

Defence continued to raise issues with respect to the evidence to support the charges and the matter resolved on only 2 burglary charges. 

Matter proceeded by way of a sentence indication whereby one received 6 months and the other received 9 months. THe latter appealed to the County Court and received a reduction in sentence to match the co-accused’ who received 6 months imprisonment noting that he was to be deported immediately thereafter. 

Charges/ Ch1 (s76 Crimes Act Burglary)x 22; 

Result/ Withdrawal of all charges except for 2 burglary charges. Sentence= 6 months imprisonment.

We negotiated with Prosecutions over several months for a withdrawal of charges. The Prosecution initially refused to withdraw the charges because they believed they could rely on the circumstantial evidence of their Modus Operandi and the link to offending vehicles which were never caugh in the act and CCTV resolution was of very poor quality to make our credible identification evidence. We had costs reserved after a Contest Mention, as the Prosecution werent able to provide the requested disclosure material including statements and footage. The Prosecution later agreed to summary case conference with an open mind in attempt to resolve the matter.

Cannabis – Trafficking Charges Withdrawn Resolved on Possession

September 29, 2024

Case: drug trafficking charges for 1296 grams of cannabis withdrawn despite text-based communication evidence found on mobile phone

Our client’s home was searched by police out of response to an unrelated incident. Drugs were located throughout the property. Although our client wasn’t the target of the warrant, she was charged with drug trafficking due to evidence located on a mobile phone linked to her found at the property also.

Investigators located 1296 grams of cannabis and over $40,000 in cash along with incriminating evidence on a phone linked to our client. At the contesst mention phase of the Court proceedings, our client applied for a sentence indication before a Magistrate who understood that the were issues in the prosecution case preventing an agreement on facts, therefore offered our client a sentence which wouldnt ordinarily be afforded to her if she had pleaded guilty to the prosecution case as it stood at the time. 

Our client relied on character references in support of her matter resolving.

Charges/ Ch1 (Traffick Cannabis); Ch2 (Possess Cannabis); Ch3 (Deal with property reasonably susptected to be proceeds of crime)

Result/ Ch1 & Ch3 withdrawn. Sentenced to a $2,000 fine without conviction on Ch2. No further orders.

Our lawyer negotiated with the Prosecution to withdraw the drug trafficking charge over several months. This may have saved our client from receiving a corrections order to complete unpaid community work.

 

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