Assault Charges Dropped - Jon Stevens AU

[Before you can make things better, you have to stop making them worse...]

This one had a happy ending, but not after police unnecessarily damaged the reputation of Australian rock singer, Jon Stevens on false and unwarranted charges of assault and having issued a restraining order (AVO) against him when the person in need of protection, his ex-fiancé, had stated that she does not fear him at all.

www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/sydney-confidential/jodhi-meares-has-no-fear-of-jon-stevens-despite-an-avo-application-and-police-incident/story-fni0cvc9-1227216905560  

Jon Stevens official website : www.jonstevens.com.au/

It looked like he had some smart lawyers that got him off the hook, but the facts speak for themselves. It actually goes something like this... .

1. His fiancé woke in the middle of the night to find him reading a text message from an ex-girlfriend. She became agitated.

2. He pointed out that she (his fiancé) was flying to the USA to meet with her ex-husband (Australia's richest male person) on Valentine's Day. She became hysterical.

3. He called her sister to come over and pacify his fiancé who by now was completely out of control.

4. He then called the police asking for their help and they responded by arresting him. He was so disgusted he moved out of her apartment and cancelled their engagement.

5. Luckily for him, she issued a statement saying that she had never feared him in any way. She refused to give evidence so the police dropped the assault charges and cancelled the restraining order. It appeared that she refused to co-operate with the police because she feared him so much but the facts of the matter came out today - she did not fear him at all.

Two things wrong here... .firstly, she was out of control and it seems that what's good enough for the goose is not good enough for the gander. ie : it's not OK for him to receive an unsolicited text message from an ex-girlfriend but it's OK for her to spend Valentine's Day overseas with her ex-husband? Secondly, he called the police asking for help. How is it that when a man calls the police for help, he often ends up getting arrested?

Fortunately sanity on her part prevailed but the police, once again, f*cked up.  

On a side note, the state government of New South Wales (NSW) in its recent election promise vowed to introduce a domestic violence register - the idea is to list men who have a history of domestic violence so that future prospective partners can check to see if their new mate is going to be problematic. The whole spiel was about listing men as if women are not capable of domestic violence. I welcome the introduction of such a register but will campaign to have my ex-wife listed on it too. Our state government was re-elected so I'm keeping an eye out for this register.

[Aussie0zborn]

This one had a happy ending, but not after police unnecessarily damaged the reputation of Australian rock singer, Jon Stevens on false and unwarranted charges of assault and having issued a restraining order (AVO) against him when the person in need of protection, his ex-fiancé, had stated that she does not fear him at all.

www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/sydney-confidential/jodhi-meares-has-no-fear-of-jon-stevens-despite-an-avo-application-and-police-incident/story-fni0cvc9-1227216905560  

Jon Stevens official website : www.jonstevens.com.au/

It looked like he had some smart lawyers that got him off the hook, but the facts speak for themselves. It actually goes something like this... .

1. His fiancé woke in the middle of the night to find him reading a text message from an ex-girlfriend. She became agitated.

2. He pointed out that she (his fiancé) was flying to the USA to meet with her ex-husband (Australia's richest male person) on Valentine's Day. She became hysterical.

3. He called her sister to come over and pacify his fiancé who by now was completely out of control.

4. He then called the police asking for their help and they responded by arresting him. He was so disgusted he moved out of her apartment and cancelled their engagement.

5. Luckily for him, she issued a statement saying that she had never feared him in any way. She refused to give evidence so the police dropped the assault charges and cancelled the restraining order. It appeared that she refused to co-operate with the police because she feared him so much but the facts of the matter came out today - she did not fear him at all.

Two things wrong here... .firstly, she was out of control and it seems that what's good enough for the goose is not good enough for the gander. ie : it's not OK for him to receive an unsolicited text message from an ex-girlfriend but it's OK for her to spend Valentine's Day overseas with her ex-husband? Secondly, he called the police asking for help. How is it that when a man calls the police for help, he often ends up getting arrested?

Fortunately sanity on her part prevailed but the police, once again, f*cked up.  

On a side note, the state government of New South Wales (NSW) in its recent election promise vowed to introduce a domestic violence register - the idea is to list men who have a history of domestic violence so that future prospective partners can check to see if their new mate is going to be problematic. The whole spiel was about listing men as if women are not capable of domestic violence. I welcome the introduction of such a register but will campaign to have my ex-wife listed on it too. Our state government was re-elected so I'm keeping an eye out for this register.

[livednlearned]

It's a little more varied here in the US, at least according to research. Police in different states follow different laws. In some states, it's mandatory arrest, and in some there are dual-arrest laws -- both parties are arrested.

And police follow different procedures for arrest based on the state. There is a decision-tree of sorts, where they consider who called, whether there is alcohol or drugs involved, whether guns are present, kids in the house, third-party witnesses, hostile behavior, signs of a struggle, prior history of DV. In many states, if a third-party makes the call, the police treat it as a public disturbance and are more likely to arrest both the man and woman.

It sounds like Australia has a bias toward arresting the biggest person? Even with some of the safeguards in the US, I think that happens in spite of how officers are trained.

[Aussie JJ]

If an allegation is made the Police prosecute now.  They put everything before the courts in regards to allegations of domestic violence and family violence. 

IE: I go to the police station and say FEMALE did ABC, I want an intervention order. 

Police put in the application for an intervention order and let the courts decide.  The police got a lot of complaints where they used to have discretion where they didn't follow through and people ended up getting harmed or violence did occur after the Police said it was an iffy case.  Their attitude now, let the magistrate decide so the responsibility is on the magistrate not us. 

I can understand their position, protects them.  Doesn't make the system and better, doesn't make the process any fairer. 

Thing is, you cant sue the Police for false allegations the complainant is protected so they can make anything up and its a he said she said, no way to defend yourself.  In many cases like mine, your best off accepting the intervention order (with no findings of guilt) as a sort of promise to the court that you wont do it again and if you do their are ABC criminal charges involved. 

Then make sure their is no way they can get you for breaching it, be squeeky clean. 

The good thing about having the intervention order in place, if anything it allows you to make it justifiable to basically record, video etc.  Their are less repercussions to that comparative to if it isn't in place.  For criminal charges a Police sergeant has to approve it as well so it isn't any and everything is put before a magistrate.  If their is a breach of the intervention order that is alleged, it is criminal and at that point the Police have to decide if they will or wont prosecute.  They have to interview and a whole other raft of things. 

As long as you genuinely are not breaking it and avoid all interactions.  You have a clean slate and it is so much harder for anything to be alleged and followed through on.  The consequences for false accusations at that stage are quite swift, so it discourages them.