Assault Occasioning Bodily Harm V

Offences:            Assault occasioning bodily harm

Solicitor:             Shelby Smith

Court:                  Brisbane Magistrates Court

Date:                   2019

Overview:

Our client was charged with assault occasioning bodily harm following an altercation in a Fortitude Valley nightclub.

The assault involved our client punching the complainant in the eye after he observed the complainant inappropriately touching his female friend.

After meeting with the client, Ms Smith obtained a copy of the QP9 police summary. She then commenced negotiations with the Police Prosecution Corps. This included obtaining a copy of the CCTV from the offence location. This allowed us to refute one of the key allegations made by the complaint. The negotiations ultimately resulted in the prosecution reducing the seriousness of the facts alleged against our client.

Our client then provided instructions that he wished to plead guilty to the charge.

Ms Smith recommended that he complete the Anger Management and Conflict Resolution Course. This 3 session course is frequently recommended by Ms Smith as it acts as a strong mitigating factor during sentencing.

Our client had extensive community involvement. Ms Smith recommended that he obtain character references outlining his extremely good character and extensive charity work. Our client also obtained a reference from his employer.

Ms Smith appeared in the Brisbane Magistrates Court in March 2019 for sentence. We tendered the Anger Management and Conflict Resolution course certificate and a number of character references. The Magistrate had regard to the circumstances of the offence, the character references and our client’s completion of the anger management course.

Our client was not an Australian citizen and was concerned about the impact of a recorded conviction on his employment. For these reasons, it was very important to ensure that no conviction be recorded on his criminal history. Ms Smith made submissions on the recording of a conviction during our client’s sentence to persuade the court to exercise its discretion to not record a conviction.

Our client was fined $500 and ordered to pay $500 compensation. No conviction was recorded on his criminal history for this offence.