Charged with mid-range drink driving for the third time, manages to avoid imprisonment by way of Community Corrections Order

R v SP

SP was charged with one count of ‘mid-range PCA’ contrary to the Road Transport Act 2013. He was charged after he had a collision with a parked vehicle and police attended the scene.

The matter was quite serious as this was the third drink driving offence that SP was considered. Compounding the situation was the fact that his nine year-old son was in the back seat of the vehicle at the time of the accident.

Matthew Berrell appeared for SP at the Wollongong Local Court and persuaded the presiding magistrate to impose a Community Corrections Order on SP as opposed to a term of imprisonment.

This was a great result for SP as he was able to continue his career and family life and avoid incarceration.

Elderly man wrongly found guilty for multiple animal cruelty offences, successful appeal results in clear record and dogs returned

R v NW

NW is a 77 year old man who was charged with five offences relating to animal cruelty. NW did not understand the nature of the charges against him. His dogs were not in good condition but this was due to them being incredibly old rather than badly cared for. NW’s first lawyer advised him to plead guilty despite the fact that he was not guilty of the charges. NW was convicted, and appealed to the District Court of New South Wales to reverse his original pleas of guilty.

Matthew Berrell took over NW’s case for the appeal. Berrell was successful in his application to traverse the guilty pleas. The matter was remitted back to the Local Court and Berrell appeared on behalf of NW for sentence.

The prosecution agreed to withdraw four of the charges made against NW, and he pled guilty to the final charge. NW received a Good Behaviour bond for this charge.

This was a great result for NW as he was able to clear his criminal record, and also was allowed to have his dog back.

Charged with supplying 74g Ice whilst already serving a sentence for serious drug supply, avoids extra prison time

R v BS

BS was charged with supplying 74 grams of Ice, whilst on bail for a previous serious drug supply offence. Whilst awaiting trial BS was sentenced to a term of imprisonment for numerous other drug supply charges that had occurred prior to this offence.

Matthew Berrell represented BS and made submissions that the term of imprisonment for his latest drug supply charge should run concurrently with the sentence he was already serving. This would avoid BS having to serve an additional lengthy term of imprisonment on top of his current sentence.

These submissions were accepted and the Court backdated BS’s sentence so that it ran concurrently with the sentences he was currently serving. The result of this was that he was able to be released on parole that same day that he was sentenced.

This was a great result for BS as he was able to return to the community immediately, rather than serve an additional number of years incarcerated.

Charged with numerous serious drug and violence related offences, avoids prison term for Community Corrections Order

R v AC

AC was charged with numerous serious charges, including three counts of ‘stalk/intimidate with intent to cause fear of harm’, ‘use offensive weapon with intent to commit indictable offence’, ‘damage/destroy property’, ‘possess prohibited drug’ as well as ‘driving whilst disqualified’.

To make matters worse AC had also contravened a previous bond to be of Good Behaviour.

Matthew Berrell represented AC and the matter came before Katoomba Local Court. The presiding Magistrate accepted Berrell’s sentencing submissions and chose to impose a Community Corrections Order (CCO) on AC for a period of two years, as well as 200 hours of Community Service work and an order to continue receiving regular counselling sessions.  

This was a fantastic result for AC as he very easily could have been sentenced to a gaol term. Each charge of ‘stalk/intimidate’ carries a maximum sentence of five years, whilst a charge of ‘use offensive weapon’ carries a maximum sentence of seven years. Instead AC was able to remain in the community and receive ongoing mental health treatment.