The Court: Ballarat Magistrates Court
The Lawyer: Benjamin Smith
The Charges:
The Allegations:
The client was driving at night and approached a bend in the road. He lost control of the vehicle and veered onto the gravel, ultimately colliding with a roadside tree. The client was not injured, and no other vehicles were involved.
When questioned, the client said he could not remember how the crash occurred. The Brief of Evidence did not provide any other evidence that the client had been careless in his driving that day. Police asserted that the crash itself indicated that our client must have been driving carelessly.
At Court:
Before the first court date of the matter, our solicitor participated in summary case conferencing with the prosecution to discuss the evidence. Our solicitor indicated that evidence of an accident was not necessarily evidence of carelessness, and therefore, the prosecution should withdraw the charge.
The prosecution had a different view and relied on photographs of the crash site and the damage to the vehicle as the sole evidence to establish the careless driving. There was no dashcam footage, independent witnesses, or CCTV footage from the area. The prosecution inferred that the client must have been driving carelessly because an accident occurred.
The matter could not be resolved despite lengthy discussions, so it was booked for a contested hearing.
At the contested hearing, the prosecution’s case consisted of the fact that a collision occurred, but they could not provide any evidence of careless driving. Our solicitor argued that while it was conceded that a collision occurred, the mere fact of the collision is not enough to prove our client was driving carelessly. Our solicitor also argued that the prosecution failed to provide direct evidence of the client’s driving manner, so the charge could not be made out.
The Outcome:
Following lengthy submissions from both the prosecutor and our solicitor, the Magistrate handed down a not-guilty verdict, and our client was acquitted. The Magistrate noted that careless driving requires more than the mere occurrence of a collision. Our solicitor sought an application for costs, which was ultimately granted. The Magistrate awarded costs against the police.
This was a fantastic outcome. Not only was there no finding of guilt, but the client recovered some of his legal costs for contesting the matter.
