The Court: Melbourne Magistrates Court
The Lawyer: Lucy Massouras
The Charges:
The Allegations:
The client had been registered as a sex offender under the Sex Offender Registration Act 2004 (“The Act”). A person on the sex offender register is required to report specific personal details to the police.
The client had been on the register for six years and had previously breached his reporting obligations three times in the past.
It was alleged that the client had failed to notify the police that he had ceased working for a particular employer, which is one of the requirements of the Act. The client, however, denied this and instructed our solicitor that he had advised the police of this information but could not provide any evidence, including phone records or an accurate recollection of who he had spoken to.
At Court:
Our solicitor advised the client that, given he had three previous breaches of his reporting obligations, this new offence being his fourth, if found guilty of this offence at a contested hearing, he could face a term of imprisonment. Our solicitor advised that the client could seek a sentence indication from the Magistrate as to the likely sentence the client would receive if he were to plead guilty to the offence.
A sentence indication is an indication by the court of the probable outcome for the offence if the client is to plead guilty to the charge. A client can seek an indication from the court before entering a formal plea of guilty. If a client accepts the indication, the matter is usually finalised on the day.
The Outcome:
Submissions were made to the Magistrate about a potential defence and the low level of the breach before the court. The Magistrate was keen to finalise the matter and offered to impose a fine with conviction, which was a surprising indication but was very well received by the client.
The client instructed our solicitor to enter a formal plea of guilty to the charge and received a modest fine of $1000 and was convicted for the offence. This was a remarkable outcome for the client, given he had three prior offences for the same charge.
