Criminal law
Domestic violence offences and AVOs
A domestic violence matter is not one proceeding. It is usually a criminal charge and an apprehended violence order running together, often with consequences for your home, your firearms licence, your work and any parenting arrangements. Decisions made in the first week affect all of it.
Alicia Catron 0407 171 626 or Michelle Simmons 0407 534 594. Our background includes prosecution as well as defence. We act in the Hills, Hornsby, Blacktown, the Hawkesbury and across NSW.
What makes an offence domestic violence related
There is no separate offence called domestic violence. What happens is that an ordinary offence is recorded as domestic violence related, which changes what follows rather than what has to be proved.
An offence is domestic violence related where it is committed against someone you are in a domestic relationship with, and it is either a personal violence offence, or an offence arising from substantially the same circumstances as one, or an offence committed in order to coerce, control, intimidate or frighten that person.
A domestic relationship is wider than most people expect
It covers current and former spouses and de facto partners, people who have had an intimate personal relationship whether or not it was sexual, people living or who have lived in the same household, long-term residents of the same residential facility, someone dependent on another’s ongoing care whether paid or unpaid, relatives, and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, extended family or kin according to the kinship system of that person’s culture.
So these charges are not limited to partners. Adult children and parents, siblings, housemates and carers all fall inside it.
The charges commonly laid
Assault
From common assault through to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and the wounding and grievous bodily harm offences. Choking, suffocation and strangulation is now charged frequently in these matters.
Stalking and intimidation
Built from a course of conduct rather than a single act. The intention element is broader than people assume, and it catches conduct that was never meant to frighten anyone.
Contravene AVO
Breaching an order is an offence in its own right. Where the breach involved violence, imprisonment is the starting point.
Damaging property
Commonly charged where something was broken during an argument, including property you own jointly.
Using a carriage service to menace or harass
A federal offence covering calls, texts and online messages, often charged alongside a state offence arising from the same conduct.
Coercive control
A standalone offence since July 2024, aimed at a pattern of abusive behaviour towards a current or former intimate partner rather than a single incident.
The question we are asked most
My partner did not want me charged. Why was I?
Because the decision is not theirs. NSW Police policy directs officers to give the strongest consideration to taking action where domestic violence is suspected, and police regularly proceed on what they observed and what was said when they arrived, whether or not the protected person has given a statement and whether or not they want the matter to continue.
The same applies once proceedings have started. The prosecution is run by police, not by the person named as protected. They cannot withdraw it, and a change of heart on their part does not end the matter, though it can be relevant to how the prosecution assesses the case.
Police also have their own power to make a provisional order on the spot, which takes effect as soon as it is served on you. That is why people are frequently excluded from their own home on the night, before any court has considered anything.
How the AVO runs alongside the charge
An order will almost always accompany a domestic violence charge, and it moves through stages.
| Stage | What it is | Is it enforceable? |
|---|---|---|
| Application | An application for an order, made by police or privately through the court | No. An application on its own imposes nothing on you, even once you have received it |
| Provisional order | Made urgently, usually by police, where the matter is considered serious enough not to wait for a court date | Yes, from the moment it is served on you, and until it is changed, revoked or dismissed |
| Interim order | Made by the court to cover the period until the matter is finalised | Yes, and it continues until it is revoked, dismissed, withdrawn or replaced by a final order |
| Final order | Made at the end of the proceedings, by consent or after a hearing | Yes, usually for two years unless the court specifies a different period |
An order can also be extended on application before it expires.
Where a person pleads guilty to, or is found guilty of, a domestic violence offence, the court is generally required to make an order unless satisfied one is not needed. So the AVO is not always a separate battle to be won or lost. Very often it follows the criminal charge, which is a reason to think about both together from the start rather than treating the order as the lesser problem.
What an order actually restricts
Every AVO carries the same mandatory condition: not to assault or threaten, not to stalk, harass or intimidate, and not to deliberately or recklessly destroy or damage property belonging to the protected person. It extends to anyone they have a domestic relationship with.
Additional conditions are then sought depending on the circumstances, and these are the ones that change your life:
- Not to reside at a stated address, which can mean leaving your own home
- Not to contact or approach the protected person, sometimes except through a lawyer
- Not to go within a set distance of their home, workplace, or a school or childcare centre
- Not to approach them within a set period after consuming alcohol or drugs
- Not to possess firearms or prohibited weapons
- Not to attempt to locate them
The conditions are negotiable and they matter enormously. An order framed to allow contact about children, or to permit arrangements for collecting belongings, is a very different order from the standard set. That is worth dealing with before an order is made rather than afterwards. More on defending or consenting to an AVO.
What follows, beyond the charge
- Your home. An exclusion condition can keep you out of a property you own or rent, immediately and before anything is proved.
- Firearms. An order means any firearms licence is suspended or revoked and firearms must be surrendered, which matters if you shoot, farm or work in security.
- Your children. Conditions can restrict contact, and what is alleged and consented to in the Local Court feeds directly into parenting proceedings. More on how the two systems interact.
- Your record. An AVO is not a criminal conviction and does not go on your criminal record. A conviction for the underlying offence does, with a domestic violence notation attached.
- Employment. A conviction affects work requiring a working with children check, a security licence or professional registration, and many employers require disclosure of a charge rather than only a conviction.
- Travel and visas. A violence conviction can affect entry to some countries, and a sentence of imprisonment has immigration consequences if you are not a citizen.
Court, and changing an order
Do I have to attend?
Yes, if you want to defend an application or be heard on the conditions. If you have been served and do not attend, the court can make the order final in your absence, for whatever period it considers appropriate, on conditions you had no say in. What to do if you have just been served.
Can an order be withdrawn?
The applicant can withdraw the application, but where police are the applicant they are reluctant to do so, including where the protected person does not want the order. That reluctance is policy rather than an accident, and it is not overcome by the protected person simply saying so.
Can a final order be removed or changed?
An application to vary or revoke can be made by the protected person, the applicant or the defendant. There must be a change in circumstances, and the court must be satisfied it is proper in all the circumstances to make the change. A common reason is the ability to hold a firearms licence again. More on varying or revoking an AVO.
Sentencing options in NSW
Get advice before pleading guilty to anything. The court can impose any of the following, and a well-prepared sentencing is what produces the best available outcome.
Dismissal without conviction
No conviction recorded and no further penalty. The matter is finalised as you leave court.
Conditional release order
A bond, available with or without a conviction, supervised or unsupervised. The standard conditions are to commit no further offence and to appear if called on, and further conditions can include rehabilitation, abstinence, curfews and non-association or place restriction orders.
Conviction with no other penalty
A conviction is recorded but nothing further is imposed.
Fine
Can be imposed alone or with a bond, and is a conviction. Usually payable within 28 days, though the registry can extend the time or arrange a plan. Non-payment leads to enforcement, which can include licence and registration suspension.
Community correction order
More serious than a conditional release order, for up to three years, supervised or unsupervised, with conditions that can include community service, curfews, abstinence and rehabilitation.
Intensive correction order
A sentence of imprisonment served in the community under strict supervision, which can include home detention, electronic monitoring and curfews. It is not available for some offences. Breaches go to the State Parole Authority rather than the court and often result in serving the balance in custody.
A word on written pleas of guilty. Police sometimes hand you a form allowing you to plead guilty in writing without attending. It looks convenient and it is usually a mistake. On a written plea the magistrate has only the police fact sheet and your record, and knows nothing about you, your circumstances or anything mitigating. The penalty is often heavier as a result. It is also important that you agree with what the fact sheet says before it is tendered, because the court sentences on that document.
Common questions
Is an AVO a criminal record?
No. An order is a civil order and it does not appear on your criminal record. Breaching it is a criminal offence, and a conviction for the underlying charge does go on your record with a domestic violence notation. The order still carries real consequences for firearms, employment and where you can live.
Should I just consent to the order to get it over with?
It is a common course and sometimes the right one, particularly where the conditions are workable and the alternative is a contested hearing. What it is not is a neutral step. Consenting without admissions still produces an order with real consequences, and the allegations behind it are used in parenting proceedings. Take advice on the conditions specifically, not just on whether to consent.
Can I go home?
Not if the order excludes you from the address, whatever your interest in the property. Arrangements for collecting belongings can usually be made through police or by a condition permitting it, and that is worth sorting out promptly rather than risking a breach.
What if the allegations are exaggerated or untrue?
That happens, particularly during a separation, and it is properly tested. In the meantime the response is the same either way: comply with every condition, do not make contact, and get advice before saying anything. Breaching an order will overshadow whatever the original allegation was.
Will this affect seeing my children?
It can, and the conditions are where that is decided. AVO conditions can be framed to permit contact with children as arranged or as permitted by a parenting order. The problem arises when the standard set is imposed without anyone turning their mind to the parenting arrangements.
How long will an AVO last?
A final order usually runs for two years unless the court specifies otherwise. It can be extended on application before it expires, and it can be varied or revoked where circumstances have genuinely changed.
Do you act for people seeking protection as well?
Yes. We act for people applying for orders and for people responding to them, though not for both sides of the same matter. More on applying for an AVO.
What should I bring to the first appointment?
The AVO or application, the court attendance notice, the police fact sheet, any bail conditions, and any messages or records relevant to the allegations. If you have none of it, come anyway.
Deal with the charge and the order together
These matters run in two proceedings at once and what happens in one is used in the other, often with parenting proceedings following behind. We handle the criminal charge, the AVO and the family law consequences in the same office, which is not something most firms doing one of those can offer.
Alicia Catron 0407 171 626 or Michelle Simmons 0407 534 594. Suite 3.13, 33 Lexington Drive, Bella Vista NSW 2153. Courts we appear in.