Our client, a loving father of two, was suffering through an acrimonious and hostile separation. As is typically the case in contested Family Court proceedings, his former partner was motivated to advance allegations of family violence against our client. As a result, our client was subject to a FVRO and protective bail conditions, which prevented him from approaching her.
One night, our client was made aware by his local hospital that his 22 month old daughter had been injured, and admitted to hospital. Wary of not breaching the conditions of his FVRO and bail conditions, our client asked his mother to contact his former partner. His former partner communicated to her mother in law that, since it was an emergency, our client was welcome to attend upon his daughter at the hospital.
Overcome with concern for his daughter, our client raced to hospital to be there for her. As he was cradling his daughter in his arms, his former partner reported him to security for breaching protective conditions. Police attended shortly thereafter. Police arrested him outside the hospital, and he was detained overnight in the Northbridge watchhouse. He was charged with breaching his FVRO, as well as breaching his protective bail conditions.
Despite advising our client that he had a viable defence, he was eager to resolve the charge quickly. At sentencing, we argued for a nominal financial penalty, and a spent conviction order, a bold application in circumstances where our client had a prior record of offending and been granted a spent conviction order in the past. Despite opposition from the prosecution, we successfully persuaded the magistrate to grant a spent conviction and impose a nominal fine of just $100.00.