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Cops picked on the wrong person!

It is very unlikely that your sister will get off. If all you need is some kind of phone statement from telstra that you werent recieving or outgoing a call, then EVERYONE who appealed would get off.... Unfortunately even though the cops made a mistake, It may be just better to pay the fine and lose the points... Unless your sister is going to lose her liscense, i wouldnt bother appealing it through the courts.
 
JeWeLLsTaH said:
It is very unlikely that your sister will get off. If all you need is some kind of phone statement from telstra that you werent recieving or outgoing a call, then EVERYONE who appealed would get off.... Unfortunately even though the cops made a mistake, It may be just better to pay the fine and lose the points... Unless your sister is going to lose her liscense, i wouldnt bother appealing it through the courts.
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Send her round to my place haha (jokes)
 
JeWeLLsTaH said:
It is very unlikely that your sister will get off. If all you need is some kind of phone statement from telstra that you werent recieving or outgoing a call, then EVERYONE who appealed would get off.... Unfortunately even though the cops made a mistake, It may be just better to pay the fine and lose the points... Unless your sister is going to lose her liscense, i wouldnt bother appealing it through the courts.
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Send her round to my place!
 
I hope she gets off the hook... it's not going to be easy if they decide to take the case on, they could say she probably was listening to something (it's not necessarily a phone call) and it will be her words against theirs.

AFAIK though, in a case like this, she has to prove that she actually didn't do the deed. A statement from her mobile phone company should suffice.

IMO, if this happens to me, I would just show my mobile's call register to the copper, so he can see that there's no incoming/outgoing call at all - that should convince him enough. And if it doesn't I will ask him to impound my mobile to be used as evidence against me (which I know won't work, as phone company record will show no incoming/outgoing call at the time). As I will be going to court.

Speaking of phone record, does your sister get monthly phone bill? My bill shows all call details... but it is a bit hard with text msg though.

Good luck with the case
 
card_craze said:
I hope she gets off the hook... it's not going to be easy if they decide to take the case on, they could say she probably was listening to something (it's not necessarily a phone call) and it will be her words against theirs.

AFAIK though, in a case like this, she has to prove that she actually didn't do the deed. A statement from her mobile phone company should suffice.

IMO, if this happens to me, I would just show my mobile's call register to the copper, so he can see that there's no incoming/outgoing call at all - that should convince him enough. And if it doesn't I will ask him to impound my mobile to be used as evidence against me (which I know won't work, as phone company record will show no incoming/outgoing call at the time). As I will be going to court.

Speaking of phone record, does your sister get monthly phone bill? My bill shows all call details... but it is a bit hard with text msg though.

Good luck with the case
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My sister showed him the phone but he refused to pay any attention to it. I think though I may have made enough noise when I went into the cop shop to complain. I have the printout for calls and text messages from Telstra, they came through once in their lives lol
 
I would get some advice from a solicitor and she probably should have sent a letter to the Police before the 28 days were up and explain why she isn;t paying the fine. I think she has a very good case to argue though and should be able to get off.
What does it say on the back on how to fight the fine?
 
Just read this thread, and while i see it's a bit old thought I would add to it.
I am assuming that the Tassie legal system works similar to SA's if so the following points for you.
The basis for all criminal allegations is "he who alleges must prove" and in SA it's "beyond a reasonable doubt". Therefore the police must now do that.
The defence must prove their case "on the balance of probabilities" a slightly lesser burden of proof.
Given the situation here, I would think that your sister would have a reasonable chance of defending the charge.
The risk you she now faces is the possibility of going to a trial unrepresented, and if she loses not only paying the original fine but also the additional court costs. If she wins she pays nothing and can then possibly apply for her costs incured.
The issue of her past history should not come into it, again using the SA criminal system as example, the Evidence Act does not allow past criminal convictions to be used to discredit someone in court or to show a prepensity to commit a crime.
My advice, and this comes from one experienced in "criminal prosecution".
Way up the risk vs reward. I would suggest you check with the Road Traffic Law and see if there is a way to resolve this matter without getting a conviction recorded. In SA for example if this occurs the Licence Dept cannot then apply demerit points to you. You end up paying the fine but save your licence. I would suggest getting some legal advice on this.
This is submitted without taking any sides and as information only.
For what it's worth, I hope it helps.
 
Well went to court today. The police had two colluding witnesses. They said my sister was talking on the phone. BAM I had them because I had the printout that proved all that she received were text messages that day and none near that time - but hey they said she was talking. Home and hosed right?

WRONG.

Prosecution refused to accept the evidence as it didn't have some official terminology on it or something. The magistrate seemed to want a witness as well - but I cannot get a witness, I think that's bullshit and increidbly biased towards lying police.

So I now have to spend money to get the official terminologied report at the risk they won't even accept it.

Suffice to say when its all and done, whether we succeed or not. It's to ACA or Today Tonight I go. Because frankly the two officers have colluded and lied under oath and they know it, they weren't mistaken... their attitude at the time (at least as reported by my sis) confirms that in my mind. Polce Department have already said cops don't get punished for being wrong about these accusations... and since I cannot prove they lied they'll get away with it. But... my sister will hopefully be found not guilty.
 
Good luck with it but it's such a small offence proscribed by regulations not an act the usual burden of proof being on the police doesn't seem to apply. Yeah kick up a stink about it if she gets done.
 
Considering a person could lose their license and possibly their ability to get to work etc because of such thing (depending on other events that have occurred) it should be equally as important.
 
True, and if the penalty itself was to have that effect I'm sure they would take it into account, but if it just puts her close to losing it they wont.
 
adhunt99 said:
True, and if the penalty itself was to have that effect I'm sure they would take it into account, but if it just puts her close to losing it they wont.
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She will lose it from another subsequent event that was not investigated properly. She was Tboned on her side of the road and she looked right and he wasn't there but she said she didn't see him (and there was evidence to suggest a good reason for her not seeing him - being he came from a servcie station and was speeding) so she got 3 demerit points for failing to give way to the right.

She loses her license (on her Ps) if this is falsely proved.
 
If she does lose then I think she can apply to have a restricted license, that allows her to go to and from work only and at specific times, that is if there's no other way for her to get there.
 
Bro, how can you get a witness if she was in the car by herself not talking to anyone??? You should go up as the witness and say she wasnt talking to me and shouldnt that suffice? The police as you point out, are lieing under oath and the court system seems biased toward them. this is utter crap. If they pick you up on a charge and I mean any charge they should have the proof to back it up. I hope you win this mate and dont be put off by anything they throw at you because the police should be accountable like everyone else.
 
breakerswitch said:
Bro, how can you get a witness if she was in the car by herself not talking to anyone??? You should go up as the witness and say she wasnt talking to me and shouldnt that suffice? The police as you point out, are lieing under oath and the court system seems biased toward them. this is utter crap. If they pick you up on a charge and I mean any charge they should have the proof to back it up. I hope you win this mate and dont be put off by anything they throw at you because the police should be accountable like everyone else.
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I have found a hole in their testimony (that I should be able make big and huge when quesitoning my sis) that I hope will be enough should I be unable to get the phone records that the prosecution will accept. here's hoping the magistrate is in a reasonable mood.
 
wolvesjr34 said:
unfortunately its because of her record they feel the need to persecute her. They have made her a target.
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Just found this now AJ, read it all, Good luck!

Just curious about this statement. How are they making her a target and persecuting her? They don;t know her record when she's driving...explain!
 
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