Pre-Sentence Order for Serious Assault Occasioning Bodily Harm

Our client was charged with Assault Occasioning Bodily Harm, where in company, they had approached a person unknown to them and placed them in a headlock and dragged them kicking, kneeing, and punching them multiple times to the head and shin.

 

Our client could not recall the incident as they suffered from a longstanding drug addiction which they continued to struggle with, but it was captured on CCTV. They already had a significant criminal record including several prior assaults where serious injury was sustained and had already spent a significant period of their adult life in custody.

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We engaged early with our client who agreed to undertake drug counselling with a community service provider and to obtain a Mental Health Care Plan from their GP. We met with our client for a lengthy period to ensure we understood their background and personal circumstances and had a full comprehension of what they had gone through to have ended up in the position they had. Our client also agreed to do some voluntary work prior to sentencing. 

 

In advance of sentencing, we sought a Pre-Sentence Report and supporting documentary material from our client’s work, psychologist, and GP to be able to make an argument that the Court make a Pre-Sentence Order (PSO) to grant our client one final opportunity to avoid a significant custodial sentence.  

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A PSO is an order that a Court can place an offender on after they have plead guilty to an imprisonable offence. The Court can only place an offender on a PSO if it considers that immediate imprisonment is warranted, that the PSO would allow the offender to address their criminal behaviour and the factors which contributed to it and if the offender were to comply with the PSO the Court might not impose a term of immediate imprisonment. The offender has to comply with various conditions set down by Community Corrections and the Court. The PSO specifies a date for the offender to come back before Court for sentencing, and the Court will consider the way the offender behaved whilst on the PSO in sentencing.  

 

At Court, upon entering the guilty plea we successfully convinced the Magistrate to grant a PSO. Our client is continuing to comply with their conditions under the PSO, and it is likely they will avoid a custodial sentence if they continue.