We recently acted for a client who was faced with 3 charges of breaching a move-on order, and a further charge of obstructing a public officer. The client worked full-time in a FIFO role and could not afford to have a conviction on their record.

On review of the initial disclosure, it was apparent that one of the charges was actually a duplicate of another charge. For unknown reasons, the police had charged the client twice with the same offence. In addition, the obstruct charge related to the client refusing to provide their personal details to the police, which is every accused person’s right, and it not an act of obstruction.

We presented a detailed submission to the police, and were successful in having the obstruct and the duplicate move-on order charge discontinued.

The client pleaded guilty and we presented a persuasive plea in mitigation, following which the client received fines and spent convictions for the remaining two charges.

This was a fantastic outcome which meant our client could continue working in their chosen field despite these unfortunate errors of judgment.