We recently acted in a matter involving a client charged with assault public officer; obstruct public officer; and disorderly behaviour in public. The client had a prior spent conviction for breaching a police order, which had been imposed a short period prior to the present charges. The statement of material facts was unfavourable to the client and also inconsistent with CCTV footage of the incident, which we obtained ourselves directly from investigating police.

We managed to secure agreement to a far more favourable set of facts, placing the assault charge into a far less serious category. The client pleaded guilty and we presented a detailed plea in mitigation. Despite the client having a prior spent conviction, the Magistrate was persuaded to impose a further 3 spent convictions for our client. This had the fantastic result that our client’s employment would not be impeded in the future, despite this unfortunate set of events.