What Happens If a Domestic Violence Complainant Fails to Attend Court?
Criminal defence lawyers are often asked what will happen if the complainant - also known as the alleged victim - in a case involving accusations of domestic violence fails to attend the Local Court on the ‘hearing date’, which is...
Can Sending Excessive Text Messages Amount to a Criminal Offence?
Criminal defence lawyers are often called upon to represent clients in cases where there is animosity between two parties but no accusation of violence, deprivation of liberty or appropriation of property - but where the conduct which forms the basis...
Black Deaths in Custody Continue Decades After the Royal Commission
Two Indigenous men died in custody this week - one in New South Wales and the other in Western Australia, highlighting yet again the systemic racism and human rights abuses in prisons. In New South Wales, Wiradjuri man TJ Dennis...
The Offence of Aggravated Dangerous Driving Occasioning Death in NSW
The teenager who was at the wheel when his ute collided with trees in the small New South Wales town of Buxton, South West of Sydney, has pleaded guilty to several serious driving offences. Tyrell Edwards, who is only 19,...
Faehrmann Calls for Regulated Legal Cocaine in NSW, in the Wake of a Spate of Shootings
Released in June, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime World Drug Report 2023 outlines that the Australian use of the illegal drug cocaine is per capita the highest in the world, whilst Sydney has long been known as this nation’s capital of...
Fourth Police Officer Sentenced Over Killing of George Floyd
The fourth Minneapolis police officer prosecuted over the killing of George Floyd has been sentenced in the United States, bringing the criminal proceedings relating to perhaps the most publicised incident of police brutality since the horrific beating of Rodney King...
Working With Children: Should Better Checks Be Undertaken?
Parents around Australia are reeling from the news that the Australian Federal Police (AFP) has charged a former childcare worker from the Gold Coast in Queensland with more than 1600 child sexual offences against 91 children both in Australia and...
Laws Relating to Driving Conduct that Causes Grievous Bodily Harm in NSW
The driver accused of being responsible for causing the deaths of 10 wedding attendees and the hospitalisation of 20 more by losing control of a bus in the Hunter Valley is facing dozens of additional charges for major traffic offences....
Should Uniform Affirmative Consent Laws Be Enacted Across Australia?
Victoria is the latest jurisdiction to introduce affirmative sexual consent laws, becoming the third Australian jurisdiction to enact laws which require those who participate in sexual activity to take positive steps to ensure the other party or parties are consenting....
United States Strips Military Commanders of Prosecutorial Powers
United States President Joe Biden has ordered an historic change to the way serious crimes such as sexual assaults and murders that are allegedly committed by defence personnel are dealt with, transferring prosecutorial powers from commanders to an independent body...
