Abuse victim escapes fines

Libby sought PCLC’s assistance when John, a friend of Libby’s abusive ex-partner, borrowed her vehicle and refused to return it. Libby only agreed to loan the vehicle to John out of fear of what her ex-partner might do to her if she refused.

John used Libby’s car to commit a number of crimes before crashing the vehicle, causing it to be ‘written off’.

John’s unauthorised use of Libby’s vehicle left her with a number of outstanding infringements, including two excessive-speeding infringements. Further, because of the time that had elapsed since the offences had been incurred, Libby was unable to nominate John as the actual driver.

Despite significant legislative and regulatory barriers, PCLC negotiated with the withdrawal of various infringements by the Traffic Camera Office. We also assisted Libby with a successful application to Fines Victoria under the Family Violence Scheme provisions. This also resulted in the withdrawal of any relevant demerit points by VicRoads.