A client was issued with an infringement notice for driving in a breakdown lane. He elected to have the matter heard in court. The client instructed me that he drove in the breakdown lane to avoid a collision with another vehicle. I caused a subpoena to be issued on the NSW Police and I obtained a copy of the police in-car video footage that clearly showed the client driving in the breakdown lane.
Relying on the police officer’s evidence and the video footage, I established what can loosely be referred to as a “necessity defence” under the roads and traffic legislation. The prosecutor overtly laughed at me when I raised the defence and could not understand under the circumstances how it was even possible. I had to convince the Magistrate that the prosecution could not establish its case beyond reasonable doubt now that a defence had been raised.
It was a difficult decision for the Magistrate to make and required nearly 3 hours of submissions to outline the law and how it would apply to the situation. The Magistrate needed to adjourn the matter to go over my submissions and research some of the law.
The Magistrate eventually decided in our client’s favour. My client (and even the the prosecutor) were amazed that we received a favourable result. My client would have lost his licence as a result of accumulation of demerit points if he was found guilty. Even though it was “only a minor traffic matter”, I approached it as I would all my matters with proper preparation and a thorough knowledge of the facts and the law.