RAS v Commissioner of Police (No. 2)

The case of RAS v Commissioner of Police (No. 2) involved the appellant, RAS, appealing against the decision of a magistrate to record a conviction for breaching a Domestic Violence Order. The appellant was fined but contested the decision to record a conviction. The appeal was heard by a higher court in Australia.

The central legal issue was whether the magistrate was correct in recording a conviction for the offence of breaching the Domestic Violence Order. The appellant argued that the magistrate should have exercised discretion and not recorded a conviction, given the specific circumstances of the case. The Commissioner of Police defended the magistrate's decision, asserting that the recording of a conviction was appropriate in this instance.

The court considered the relevant statutory provisions and case law concerning the imposition of penalties for breaches of Domestic Violence Orders. It found that the magistrate had failed to exercise the discretion to not record a conviction, contrary to the applicable legal principles. The court held that the magistrate should have considered the particular circumstances of the breach, including the appellant's compliance with the order and any mitigating factors. As such, the appeal was allowed, and the conviction was deemed not to have been properly recorded.

The final orders of the court were that the words "conviction recorded" be removed from the magistrate's decision on penalty and replaced with "no conviction recorded" in respect of the offence of breach of domestic violence order. No order was made regarding costs.