Can I Withdraw My Statement in a Domestic Violence Case?

Yes. You can ask the police to withdraw or change your statement, and you are allowed to tell them you do not want the case to go ahead. Changing your mind is not an offence. What you cannot do is end it on your own. The moment police laid a charge or applied for an order, the decision moved to them, and nothing you sign or request takes it back – but there is a reason why.

This covers New South Wales, where the order is an AVO and the rules below apply. Other states run the same idea under different names and different sections.

The real question is not whether you can ask. It is which decision you are trying to change, and who that decision sits with. That is what this page covers, along with what police do with a retraction, what usually happens next, and the risks to you. If you want to do this and need the document itself and to know how to word it, read our guide on making a statement of no complaint.

Where you have a say, and where you do not

You likely can have a say when:

• You have not given a statement yet. There is no obligation to make one.
• The AVO application is one you made yourself. You are the applicant, so it is yours to withdraw.
• There is a final AVO in force. You can apply to the court to revoke it, though the court decides whether to. An application to vary or revoke can be made at any time, by a police officer or an interested party, and as the protected person you are an interested party.

You likely can’t on your own if:

• Police applied for the AVO. You are the protected person on it, not the applicant.
• Police have laid a criminal charge. That decision belongs to police and the prosecutor.
• The statement is already made. You cannot unmake a statement you have already given. Once you sign it, it is on the police file and can be used as evidence whether or not you still want it used.

Applications to vary or revoke an AVO are made under ss 72 and 72A of the Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007 (NSW).

If you are not safe right now, 1800RESPECT is free and confidential, any hour of the day, and you can call them before you decide what to do about the statement.

What are you actually trying to withdraw?

Four different things get called withdrawing, and they are four different processes. Work out which one is yours first.

1. Your statement. Ask the officer in charge to record that you want it withdrawn or changed, by making a further statement. Police may refer to this as making representations. What you cannot do is unmake the first one: once you sign it, it is on the police file and can be used as evidence whether or not you still want it used.

2. An AVO application you made privately. You applied, so you are the applicant, and the application is yours to withdraw.

3. An AVO application police made. Police are the applicant, not you, and the application names the other person as the defendant. You can tell them you want it withdrawn and ask for your reasons to be recorded, but the application belongs to them. That process is set out in our guide on withdrawing a police AVO.

4. A final AVO already in force. This is the part people get wrong. Withdrawing a pending application and revoking an order already made are two different things, and the second one is open to you. You apply to the court. Where the order came out of a police application, the court must decline to hear that application unless police made it, or notice has been served on the Commissioner of Police. The court may vary or revoke a final or interim order only if satisfied it is proper to do so in all the circumstances, and it can refuse to hear you if nothing has changed since the order was made.

Police-initiated orders and the test the court applies: ss 72C and 73, Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007 (NSW). Legal Aid NSW sets out the practical route for a protected person.

What police do when you ask to withdraw

Police have a duty to apply for an order where they suspect or believe that a domestic violence offence has recently been committed, is being committed, or is likely to be committed. Where an officer decides not to apply, the reason has to be recorded in writing.

Then there is the provision almost nobody mentions. Your reluctance, on its own, is not a good reason for police not to apply, where the officer reasonably believes you have been the victim of violence or that there is a significant threat of violence to you. That’s because many victims of domestic violence are pressured or coerced to withdraw an order.

Section 49, Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007 (NSW), including s 49(6). NSW Police publish how they respond to domestic and family violence.

So expect your request to be recorded and weighed against the rest of the evidence, not treated as the end of the matter.

This is how it usually plays out. The day after a charge, the person who made the statement tells police they have changed their mind and want it all stopped. Police answer that they already hold the original statement, the Triple Zero (000) recording and statements from neighbours, so the matter can run without their cooperation. Staying away from court does not solve it either, which we cover in our article about what happens if you do not turn up to court.

What actually happens to these matters

Of the 33,811 domestic assaults NSW Police recorded in 2022, police laid charges in 72 per cent of incidents. The prosecution drops all charges in 19 per cent of domestic violence court appearances. 39 per cent of reported domestic assaults end in a conviction.

Source: BOCSAR, Attrition of domestic assaults from the NSW criminal justice system, BB176, 3 July 2025.

Read them together and the picture is honest. Most incidents result in charges. Some are dropped. A retraction is one of the things weighed, not the switch that ends it.

How to tell police you want to withdraw

Three steps, in this order.

1. Get your own legal advice first. Before you say anything on the record, know what your retraction can realistically achieve and how it will be read against your first statement.
2. Contact the officer in charge. They are named on the police paperwork. Tell them you want to make a further statement.
3. Say what you want and why, truthfully. Ask for what you want to happen. Do not recant something that was true in order to get there.

Police record it, and the prosecutor weighs it with everything else on the file. If you want the wording of the written document that goes with this, our statement of no complaint guide has it.

One more thing before you write anything, because this is where the real risk sits.

Here’s the part people don’t really appreciate: the risks to you

Changing your mind is not an offence. What creates risk is knowingly saying something false, whether that is the first statement or the second one.

The penalties are not small. Knowingly accusing an innocent person, intending them to be investigated, carries up to 7 years imprisonment. Knowingly making a false representation to police that calls for an investigation carries up to 12 months imprisonment or a fine of 50 penalty units ($5,500), or both. An act intended to pervert the course of justice carries up to 14 years. A false statement on oath that is not perjury carries up to 5 years.

Crimes Act 1900 (NSW): s 314, s 547B, s 319 and s 330. A penalty unit is $110 under s 17, Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW).

One correction, because you will see this written the other way around. A knowingly false domestic violence allegation is not outside of criminal law because an AVO is an order rather than a charge. The Crimes Act provisions above cover it. Section 49A of the Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007 (NSW), often cited here, applies to apprehended personal violence order applications under s 18, not to domestic violence orders, and carries up to 12 months imprisonment or 10 penalty units ($1,100), or both.

What to do next

Get advice before you sign anything further, and ask about safety planning if needed at the same time. Legal Aid NSW explains the route for a protected person who wants an order varied or revoked, and 1800RESPECT is free and confidential, any hour of the day. Our AVO lawyers can tell you where you stand before you commit to anything.

If you are about to tell police you want the matter stopped, spend ten minutes with someone who deals with police prosecutors every week. Book a call with my team and we will walk you through which of the four routes is yours, what the prosecutor is likely to do with your retraction, and how to put your position on the record without creating a second problem for yourself. Call 1300 614 732 and ask for one of our AVO lawyers. The first call is free, nothing you say on it obliges you to do anything, and if this is something you can sort out without us, we will say so.