Assault – No conviction recorded

Charge: Common Assault (Domestic Violence Related); pursuant to section 59 of the Crimes Act 1900.

Penalties: The maximum penalty for Common Assault is a term of imprisonment for 2 years.

Case Summary: Our client pleaded guilty to assaulting his partner, where it was alleged by police that our client had slapped the victim in the face so hard that she had welts on the side of her face and neck.

Prime Lawyers carried out investigations that uncovered that the victim’s complaint to police did not disclose matters that were contained in the police allegations and essentially, the police account was more serious than the version actually given by the victim. This allowed Prime Lawyers to negotiate a less serious version of events that would eventually be relied on by the Police, in Court.

In addition to negotiating a less serious version of events with the Police, we advised our client to strongly consider undertaking an anger management course to assist him in better dealing with emotionally charged situations, so as to make it less likely that he would behave in a violent and unacceptable manner in the future. Our client accepted our advice and undertook counselling.

Although the Magistrate considered that the matter was serious, as all domestic physical assaults are, we submitted to the Magistrate that, taking into account the client’s prior good character and commitment to rehabilitation, it was a rare occasion where it was appropriate to not punish the client and therefore not record a criminal conviction.

Result: The Magistrate considered our submissions and dismissed the matter pursuant to section 10 of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act. This meant that although the client pleaded “guilty” to the offence, the Court decided to not punish him and dismissed the matter without recording a conviction.

The client was grateful to not have a criminal conviction recorded against his name.