Behave in Offensive Manner in Public Place Offence Withdrawn After Successful Representations

FB was charged with ‘Behave in offensive manner in/near/within hearing from a public place/school’, contrary to section 4(1) Summary Offences Act 1988. The allegation against FB relates to the conduct when he recorded a video of two females at a train station. Independent witnesses saw this conduct and alleged that FB’s behaviour was offensive.

FB pleaded ‘not guilty’ to the offence and had the matter set down for Hearing.

Pending the Hearing date, James Castillo prepared Representations to withdraw the charge, noting the context of the incident and that nothing captured could constitute offensive in a legal context.  

Eventually, Police accepted the Representations to withdraw the charge.

No Prosecution Witness, Adjournment Opposed

AF was charged with ‘Larceny’, contrary to section 117 Crimes Act 1900. She entered a plea of ‘not guilty’ to the offence and her matter was set down for Hearing.

At the day of Hearing, no prosecution witness turned up including the office-in-charge. The Prosecutor sought an adjournment application. James Castillo opposed the application. The Presiding Magistrate refused the adjournment application and consequently, the charge was withdrawn and dismissed.

Successful Negotiation Led to Withdrawal of All DV Charges and AVO Application

JG was charged with 5 counts of ‘Common assault-DV’ and one count of ‘Intentionally choke etc person without consent’ concerning JG’s son.

Chris Cole acted for JG and successfully negotiated the withdrawal of all criminal charges. On the day of the Hearing, the Prosecution further granted authorisation to withdraw the AVO Application sought by them.

This is an outstanding result for JG.