JE was charged with ‘Intimidate police officer in execution of duty w/out ABH’. JE pleaded guilty to the offence and his matter proceeded to Hearing at the Local Court.

At the Local Court Hearing, the Prosecution called evidence from the officer-in-charge and from the complainant. There was no CCTV footage from the police station produced in the matter and the police omitted to obtain a witness statement from another police officer who was present during the alleged incident. JE gave evidence in his Defence. Notwithstanding the lack of independent evidence to support the complainant’s allegation, the Presiding Magistrate found JE guilty of the offence.
JE filed a Conviction Appeal to the District Court. At the Appeal Hearing, James Castillo pointed out the various parts of the evidence which cast doubt concerning the complainant’s evidence, as well as the lack of corroborating evidence which the Police consciously did not obtain.

The Appeal Judge reviewed the entirety of the evidence and ultimately, upheld the Appeal, dismissing the charge and finding the appellant not guilty of the offence.

BD pleaded guilty to the offences of ‘Drive motor vehicle with illicit drug present in blood’ and ‘Possess prohibited drug’ in the Local Court. In the Local Court, she was fined $500.00 and received the minimum license disqualification of 3 months with respect to the first charge. The sentencing Magistrate subsequently dismissed the second charge.

BD instructed Chris Cole to file a Severity Appeal to the District Court with respect to the conviction recorded and fine imposed concerning the first charge. Chris appeared at the Appeal Hearing. He tendered various materials including BD’s Affidavit, character testimonials, and sentencing statistics, etc. Despite the Appeal Judge not being receptive of the submissions initially, ultimately, the Appeal Judge upheld the Appeal and dismissed the offence pursuant to s10(1)(a) Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act.

This was a pleasing outcome for BD.

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