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Defending an Apprehended Violence Order
 Case Study – Saabeah, Didier and Mark
Mark has lived in his house for 20 years. A few months ago he started doing some work around his house. Saabeah and Didier recently migrated from Africa and moved into the house next door. Mark has been placing the building rubble and garbage in his yard next to the fence. Saabeah and Didier have sent Mark a letter accusing him of throwing the garbage over their fence. Mark is really angry and frustrated. He believes Saabeah and Didier should mind their own business. Mark wrote them a letter warning them to leave him alone. On Tuesday Mark was served with an application for an Apprehended Personal Violence Order. He doesn’t agree with what the papers say. Mark has to go to court in two weeks and doesn’t know what to do. |
If you are named as a defendant in an application for an Apprehended Violence Order (AVO) you should consider the following information:
If you have been charged with a criminal offence and given (served with) an AVO, see Charges and Apprehended Violence Orders.
Responding to an application for an AVO
An application for an AVO can be made by:
| 1. | a police officer on behalf of the protected person or |
| 2. | the protected person themselves through the Local Court, unless they are under 16. |
 If you are the defendant and you are under 18 years of age, your case will be dealt with differently. For more information, see Apprehended Violence Orders against children.
When an application is made, the people involved in the application are called:
- Applicant: this is the person asking the court to make an AVO. The protected person will be the applicant if they made the application for an AVO through the Local Court. If a police officer made the application for the protected person the applicant will be the police officer. The applicant may also be called ‘the complainant’.
- Protected person: this is the person the applicant says needs protection from you. If a person makes an application to protect themselves from you they are both the protected person and the applicant. They may also be called ‘the Person in Need of Protection (PINOP)’.
- Defendant: this is the person the protected person allegedly needs protection from. You are the defendant if the application for an AVO names you as the defendant.
When the application is filed at court a date will be set for when the parties will need to go to court. This first court date is called a ‘mention’.
For more information, see Responding to an application for an Apprehended Violence Order.
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Going to court
On the date you attend court, the magistrate will want to know how you want to respond to the application. The magistrate may also want to know if the applicant still wants to go ahead with the application.
If the police applied for the AVO on behalf of the protected person, they will represent the protected person. At some courts a police officer may want to talk to you about what you want to do before the case. This may be a Domestic Violence Liaison Officer (DVLO). You should not discuss what happened with the police officer or DVLO as it might be used against you at a hearing. Only tell the police officer whether or not you agree to the AVO being made.
Depending on what you and the applicant want to do, the matter may be finalised on the day or it may be postponed (adjourned) to another day.
You may:
| 1. | ask for more time to get legal advice, and the case may be adjourned. |
| 2. | agree with the AVO being made, without admitting any of the allegations, and a Final AVO will be made. |
| 3. | not agree with the AVO being made, and the case will be given a hearing date. If the application is for an Apprehended Personal Violence Order it may be referred to a Community Justice Centre (CJC) for mediation. A temporary order (Interim AVO) may be made, or if an Interim AVO has already been made, it may be extended until the hearing date. |
| 4. | give a formal promise (undertaking) to the court to stop the behaviour causing the protected person to fear you. |
| 5. | not attend, and if there is evidence the application was served, an order may be made against you even though you're not at court. |
| 6. | not attend, and if there is no evidence the application was served, the matter may be adjourned to allow the application to be served on you.
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For more information, see Going to court.
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After court
If the magistrate decides not to make a Final AVO after a hearing has taken place then that is the end of the case.
If a Final AVO is made, then the protected person will be protected by the AVO.
If an AVO is made against you, you are not given a criminal record. However if you breach an AVO it is a criminal offence. The maximum penalty for breaching an AVO is a fine of $5,500 and/or 2 years in prison. An AVO may also place some restrictions on you, such as stopping you form having a firearms or security licence, or working with children.
After the Final AVO is made, you can apply for the AVO to be varied or revoked. The protected person and the applicant may also apply to have the AVO varied, revoked or extended.
If a Final AVO is made, you may be able to appeal the decision to the District Court within 28 days.
For more information see After court.
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Getting more help
There are a number of services that may be able to help you if somebody wants an AVO against you.
For further assistance, see Getting more help.
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