Our client is a 43 year old chiropractor living in an apartment block in Sydney.
It was alleged that on a Sunday morning, two of his neighbours heard loud music coming from the building’s parking lot and went down to investigate.
They saw our client cleaning his car and asked him to turn his music down. An argument then occurred during which, it was alleged, our client kicked his female neighbour to the chest causing her to fall to the ground and punched his male neighbour to the face several times, also causing him to fall.
Paramedics were called and the neighbours were said to be suffering from bruising, cuts, abrasions and severe pain.
Police then attended and charged our client with ‘Assault Occasioning Actual Bodily Harm’ and ‘Common Assault’. They also applied for an Apprehended Violence Order against him.
Our client was adamant that he did not strike the female at all and that he acted in self-defence in relation to the male.
Our lawyers obtained CCTV footage which showed parts of the incident, and did not show our client striking the female.
The case went to a full-day defended hearing in Downing Centre Local Court where our legal team persuaded the Magistrate that:
(a) there was insufficient evidence to establish that our client struck the female, and
(b) there was a reasonable possibility that our client acted in self-defence in respect of the male.
Accordingly, our client was found ‘not guilty’ and all charges and the AVO against him were dismissed.