Suspected AVO Defendant Providing False or Misleading Identity Information to Police

Being a suspected defendant in an apprehended violence order who provides false or misleading information to a police officer about identity is an offence under section 13C of the Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act 2002 which carries a maximum penalty of a fine equivalent to two penalty units.

To establish the offence, the prosecution must prove beyond reasonable doubt that:

1. You were required under section 13A of the Act to provide your identity to a police officer, and
2. You gave a name that was false in a material particular or an address other than your full and correct address.

Section 13A of the Act requires you to disclose your identity to a police officer if your identity is not already known to the officer and the officer suspects on reasonable grounds that an interim, provisional or final apprehended violence order has been made against you.

You are not guilty of the offence if you establish, on the balance of probabilities, that you had a reasonable excuse for your conduct.

General legal defences to the offence include duress, necessity and self-defence.

If you are able to raise evidence of a general legal defence, the onus then shifts to the prosecution to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defence does not apply to the circumstances of the case.

You are entitled to an acquittal if the prosecution is unable to do this.