The Court: Geelong Magistrates Court
The Lawyer: Ryan Robertson
The Charges:
The Allegations:
The client was an immigrant and had migrated to Australia in 2017. He returned to his country of origin in 2019 to marry and subsequently moved back to Australia with his new wife. The client was living with his wife in Adelaide and was also sponsoring her for a permanent residency application in Australia.
After two years of marriage, the relationship broke down, and the client and his wife had separated. The ex-wife had moved to Victoria while our client remained in Adelaide. Following the separation, our client withdrew his sponsorship for the permanent residency application. The client’s ex-wife had subsequently made an application for a Family Violence Intervention Order, and the matter was listed at Geelong Magistrates Court for mention. The application was not a police application. But instead, the wife was the applicant.
At Court:
The client engaged our office and provided instructions to contest the intervention order. He stated that his ex-wife entirely fabricated the allegations and that the family violence accusations were made following his withdrawal of his ex-wife’s permanent residency application. The client instructed that it was clear his ex-wife’s motive was to take out an intervention order, which would enable her to make an application for permanent residency in Australia by claiming domestic violence.
The applicant assumed that our client would not travel to Victoria to contest the matter. The allegations greatly upset the client, and he instructed our firm to contest the application. Our solicitor appeared with the client for several preliminary court hearings before the matter was scheduled for a contested hearing on a family violence intervention order.
The Outcome:
At the contested hearing, following extensive preparation and lengthy cross-examination of the applicant, it became clear to the Magistrate that the application was less about any domestic violence that had occurred but more about the applicant becoming a permanent resident in Australia. The Magistrate, therefore, struck out the application.
This was a fantastic outcome for the client.
