Trevor visited the Street Law Coffee Van program and over a cup of coffee with the Project’s Community Engagement worker revealed he had a upcoming court hearing regarding a charge of driving a motor vehicle without authorization to do so.
Fiona engaged with PCLC having been issued with a 7 Day Notice for over $335,000 in outstanding fines, all of which were toll fines. She was pressured by her former partner to use the toll road to travel to and from work, a trip that would take her approximately two hours each way. She was financially reliant on her former partner who refused to give her money to pay the tolls or infringements.
Pablo, in his late 20s, presented to PCLC with a large fine debt of over $206,000. Having come from an abusive home, he had no family support. He had also had a drug addiction since his teens, falling in with the wrong crowd, and he had significant mental health concerns. He had previously moved house multiple times and was neither able to cope with his job nor hold on to it. Pablo’s mental health deteriorated through COVID and when seeking help, was overwhelmed by the lack of mental health resources available and gave up hope. Pablo was living in fear of being arrested and jailed for the fines.
Wendy was a sole parent of one dependent child renting in the City of Kingston. She was a victim survivor of family violence and had rental arrears of several thousand dollars. She did not attend her possession order hearing in the Melbourne Magistrate’s Court (MCV) and a possession order was granted in her absence. Her rental provider subsequently sought a warrant of possession from Police for the eviction.
Noel was a young rooming house resident renting in the City of Frankston. He was the last remaining resident in the rooming house. He received a notice to vacate claiming he allegedly damaged the premises
Simone, an adolescent was at Frankston Magistrates’ Court on summons by police for an application for a Family Violence Intervention Order (“FVIO”) against her, where the protected person was Simone’s mother Gail. Gail and her partner Pat were known to Victoria Police and Child Protection due to many interventions where Gail and Pat had inappropriately disciplined Simone as well as having committed family violence against Simone.
Rosie and her four children were protected persons in an indefinite family violence intervention order (FVIO) with full no contact conditions against her ex-partner, Lachlan. Rosie and Lachlan share one child. Lachlan had been imprisoned for seriously assaulting and raping his most recent partner. Lachlan had also breached the FVIO previously and strangled Rosie in the presence of her other children, and threatened to destroy everything, pouring fuel around her home and car.
Charlotte presented to one of our family lawyers on duty as a FASS lawyer on a Friday. She was a kinship carer for a three-year-old child and had cared for the child since he was a few months’ old due to the parents’ inability to provide appropriate care. During the parents’ relationship, and when they had care of the child, Child Protection was involved due to severe family violence and neglect of the child.
Cecilia was warmly referred to PCLC by a member of her community in Melbourne as part of the Centre’s Strengthening Legal Pathways for CALD Women. Cecilia was emotionally and physically abused by her ex-husband, including during her pregnancy. Cecilia separated from her ex-husband while pregnant and was the sole parent of her young son.
Michael, a 23-year-old heavy cannabis user, spiralled into depression and unemployment during the COVID lockdowns. One night, fuelled by frustration, he sent a threatening message to a politician’s public Facebook account, including a picture to support the threat. Understandably, the Federal Police took the threat seriously.
