As part of a growing scam in Australia, desperate foreigners on temporary visas are alleging family violence as a means of securing residency and incurring financial and housing benefits.

After only a few meetings, our client married the complainant in hopes of a happy and fruitful marriage and sponsored her on a Partner Visa. Not the marriage he thought – she was never home, they rarely spoke, never even slept in the same bed, and was cheating on him throughout the duration of their marriage.

When our client found out and withdrew his sponsorship, the complainant went to the police to make allegations of domestic violence, showing photos of injuries to the police to support her claims. The client was arrested and released on bail after a night in custody. Over the next few months, we painstakingly assisted our client to put together evidence to defend the allegations including text messages and call logs.

At the hearing, we successfully convinced the court that she was vague in her description of the assaults, the photos she presented were actually from an allergic reaction and that she was actually under the influence of cocaine when she gave her statement to police. In awarding costs, the court found that not only had the police failed to properly investigate her claims, they had gone so far as to fabricate details in the facts sheet so that the client could be charged.