Our services were engaged to defend a 30-something year old father, whose former partner alleged he had made an unlawful threat towards her in the course of an argument over their young child. Our client’s position was that the allegation was fabricated for ulterior motives and the matter was set down for trial. Days out from the trial date, the prosecution formed a view there was no prospect of securing a conviction on the threats charge and decided to change the allegation to one of assault, causing the trial to be adjourned and re-listed.
Prior to the second trial date, we invited the prosecution to discontinue the assault charge, citing the same reason as its decision to withdraw the threats charge. The submission was declined. We proceeded to trial, where our effective cross-examination of the former partner severely undermined her credibility about the events in question. In finding our client not guilty of the charge, the magistrate had assessed the former partner was not an honest, accurate or reliable witness. Our client was granted a significant costs award following the judgement of acquittal.
