Assault & intimate-partner allegations
Charged with assault or a domestic offence in British Columbia?
A domestic allegation moves faster than any other charge. Within hours you can be out of your own home, cut off from your children, and bound by conditions that shape the months ahead — all before anyone has tested a word of the allegation. The early moves matter more on these files than almost any other. Here is what you are facing.
Your partner cannot drop the charges. In BC, the decision to prosecute belongs to Crown Counsel, not the complainant. A partner who regrets the call to police cannot end the case — and contact between you two while conditions are in place can create a brand-new charge.
The conditions are the first fight
The no-contact and no-go conditions imposed on release are often more disruptive than the charge itself: out of the family home, communication through lawyers only, parenting suddenly complicated. These conditions can be varied — but on application, properly supported, not by informal agreement between you and your partner. Breaching them, even with the complainant’s enthusiastic consent, is a new criminal charge and makes everything that follows harder.
How these files are actually assessed
The Defence does not pretend these allegations are treated lightly — BC Crown policy treats intimate-partner files as a priority, and the days when a complainant’s change of heart quietly ended a file are gone. What remains true is that the Crown must prove the charge beyond a reasonable doubt, with evidence that survives scrutiny. Many of these files are built on a single statement taken on the worst night of a relationship — sometimes accurate, sometimes exaggerated, sometimes flatly wrong.
Context the first statement never captured, messages that tell a different story, injuries inconsistent with the account, self-defence: these are the places the file turns. I read the disclosure line by line looking for them.
Self-defence is real
The law recognizes the right to defend yourself, and mutual struggles get charged one-sidedly more often than anyone admits. Who called the police first is not the same thing as who was the aggressor. If you were defending yourself, that defence gets built properly — from the evidence, from the injuries, from the sequence — not just asserted.
What to do right now
- Follow the conditions to the letter. Even if your partner wants contact. A breach is a new charge and it hands the Crown leverage.
- Say nothing about the incident. Not to police, not on social media, not to mutual friends. Your right to silence protects you; explanations get used against you.
- Preserve the record. Messages, call logs, photos of injuries, anything from before and after the incident. Do not delete anything.
- Move early on the conditions. If the conditions are unworkable — your home, your children, your job — a variation application is often the first priority.
- Call. The first conversation is free and confidential.
Talk to Neil before the conditions settle in.
Assault and domestic violence defence in Victoria, Nanaimo, Duncan, and across British Columbia. The first call is free and confidential, and you will get a straight read on where you stand.
Common questions
My partner wants to drop the charges. Can they?
No. In BC the Crown decides whether a prosecution proceeds, not the complainant. A complainant’s wishes are a factor, but they do not end the case. The file has to be defended properly.
Can I go home?
Not while a no-go condition is in place — regardless of what your partner says. Conditions can be varied by application to the court. Getting that application right, early, is often the first piece of work on the file.
What about seeing my kids?
Conditions often complicate parenting even when children are not named in them. Variations can carve out workable arrangements. Bring this up on the first call — it shapes the strategy.
We were both fighting. Why was only I charged?
It is common. Who called first, who was injured, and who the police believed at the scene drives the charge — not necessarily who started it. Self-defence and the full context are exactly what a trial defence puts before the court.
What does the first call cost?
Nothing. The first conversation is free and confidential. Call (250) 661-1893.