In 2018 the legal fight for our client, a Corrective Services Officer commenced. After having been stood down for eight months, he was charged with an assault alleged to have taken place in an interview room at one of the many Correctional facilities in Queensland. The alleged assault was said to be when our client […]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-11/former-police-officer-receives-payout-over-trauma/12043156

Recently we were involved in defending a client facing allegations of assault said to have been perpetrated on his previous defacto. Now we have conducted many investigations ourselves in the past, and of course, seen many investigations since then as a Defence Lawyer. It is easy for an investigator to lose sight of the fundamental […]

Disputes can involve multiple sides of the one story. It is therefore not unusual for things to get very messy, very quickly. In assault matters, whether or not the defendant was provoked, acting in self-defence or even whether the altercation was consented to by both parties, are factors that are considered by the court.
Unfortunately, often whomever is the first to make a complaint to the Police is usually the one the Police side with. A defendant is always considered innocent until proven guilty. Sadly,Police tend to pick a side quickly, and then ignore all the evidence to the contrary of their theory. You may find yourself in this position, defending such a charge.  Prosecutionsare therefore required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the assault in question was an unlawful one, in that the defendant’s actions were not authorised, justified or excused by the law. The defence will endeavour to raise defences and discredit the prosecution witnesses accounts, to show that the evidence is in fact unreliable and should be ignored by the court.
In a recent example that our firm dealt with, an altercation occurred in a work place, following a verbal discussion over a phone where the complainantdemanded that the defendant attend the officeto correct a pay discrepancy, only to result in the employee being violently shoved and the altercation starting from there.
In this matter, there were witnesses of the altercation, all whom put forth different and contradicting evidence regarding “who held who back” when they attempted to break up the men. By the time that the witnesses walked into the office, both the complainant and the defendant were exchanging blows and it was evident that the altercation was an evenly traded fight between two men.
We were able to successfully show that the altercation was in fact a product of both provocation and self-defence. As there were competing facts being considered by the court, this was a clear reason as to why the evidence of the complainant was to beignored. The Magistratecould not be satisfied that the Prosecution had negatived self-defence and provocation beyond a reasonable doubt, for the prosecution had to prove that the complainant did not shove the defendant without cause, and that the shove did not cause the defendant to lose control. In the matter of Van den Hoek v R (1986), it was held that a defendant is not required to expressly say that his or her state of mind was such thathewas provoked, in cases where there is “some evidence fit for its consideration”. The Prosecution also failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the complainant did not then strike the defendant first, and this was ultimately accepted by the Magistrate.
If you have been involved in any incident that has resulted in you being charged with assault, we recommend you contactour firm immediately so that we can provide advice early and give you the best possiblechance to defend the charges.

Many cases of assault involve a he said she said version of events, and defending criminal assault charges at Southport Court is no different. In criminal assault cases, there are usually three sides to the story, the victim’s, the defendant’s and the truth being the third. It is often the case that what starts as […]

Justin Sibley Brisbane Crime Lawyer and Williamson and Associates Lawyers Brisbane successfully defended an innocent man put on trial for assault occasioning bodily harm in Brisbane in circumstances where the police prosecutor should never have proceeded. Police were called to a supposed ‘one punch scenario’ where a male had been rendered unconscious in Brisbane City […]

In the Magistrates Court at Brisbane, like any other Magistrates Court, serious offences like Burglary and commit indictable offence under section 419(4) of the Criminal Code Queensland and Possessing dangerous Drugs under s 9 of the Drugs Misuse Act Queensland can easily result in jail time. The fact that the matter is at the Brisbane […]

The serious criminal law charge of drug trafficking is these days far too quickly proffered against offenders in places like Southport and indeed elsewhere, when in previous years the criminal law offence of supplying drugs would have been preferred. The spirit of the legislature would not have been in my view to brand low level […]

The authorities that guide a District Court Judge in Brisbane to deal with the criminal law offence under s 352(1) of the Criminal Code of Indecent Assault when committed by a masseuse should be used to guide the range of sentencing. Recently the District Court in its criminal law jurisdiction in Brisbane dealt with the […]

If you have been charged with an offence of failing to stop, under the Police Powers and Responsibilities Act section 754 (2) Fail to Stop Motor Vehicle, or given a notice under s 755 of the PPRA to identify the driver, you may have a good defence if you can establish on the balance of […]

Woman charged with perjury after giving evidence at trial of man she claimed sexually assaulted her http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/crime-and-justice/woman-charged-with-perjury-after-giving-evidence-at-trial-of-man-she-claimed-sexually-assaulted-her/news-story/d77d25cae6c6eee6c3e61c62611ef3e9

At the Maroochydore Magistrates Court on 7 July 2017, the Court ruled that the arrest of our client Ivan Bortic was unlawful, due to the fact that the arresting police officer had failed to afford the mandatory safeguard warnings under the Police Powers and Responsibilities Act (PPRA). Earlier media reporting that Mr Bortic was avoiding an RBT […]

His Honour Magistrate Sinclair handed down a decision last week that one of our client’s had no case to answer on a charge of obstructing police. The case should never have gone to trial. Rather the Prosecution should have pulled the charge as soon as it had seen the evidence. In this case, His Honour […]

In the Magistrates Court of Southport, our client Mr Joel Helmore had his charges of Serious Assault Police and Commit Public Nuisance dismissed, following a finding that he had been unlawfully arrested and therefore was falsely imprisoned. The incident occurred at Southport outside Melbas Nightclub. The evidence showed that that Mr Helmore was not committing […]