Charges: Obstructing a police officer x 1.
Appeal type: Appeal against conviction.
Facts: The appellant was convicted of obstructing two police officers by resisting arrest ([2]). The appellant was arrested on suspicion of committing an offence by breaching a violence restraining order ([2]). The breach occurred when the appellant attended a dog training class when he allegedly knew the victim would be there ([56]). The victim later reported the incident and the incident was recorded with a Domestic Violence Incident Report (‘DVIR’):
Issues: One issue was whether the police could form a reasonable suspicion that the appellant had breached a violence restraining order by relying on a DVIR ([61](iv))
Decision and Reasoning: Justice Tottle concluded that the officer’s ‘suspicion of a breach of the order by the appellant was reasonable. The narrative section of the incident report read in the context of the DVIR section of the report (that is the allegation of breach assessed against what had allegedly taken place in the past) provide a basis for a suspicion that the appellant had breached the order’ ([70]).