If you are facing a criminal charge after a domestic incident, or you made a complaint and now wish to withdraw it, this is a frightening, stressful position to be in. What you want is a straight answer about whether it can end. So here it is, in simple terms. In New South Wales, only the prosecution can drop a charge. Not the court, and not the person who made the complaint. Wanting a charge dropped and having it dropped are two different things. This page explains when charges actually get dropped here, what it means for your record, and what happens to any AVO along the way.
Can your charges be dropped? What makes it more or less likely
Start with the honest version. Some charges are far more likely to be dropped or withdrawn than others, and it comes down to the evidence and the public interest, not how much anyone wants it gone.
More likely to be dropped or withdrawn if:
- the evidence is weak, missing or inconsistent, so there is no reasonable prospect of conviction
- continuing the case does not serve the public interest
- there is a legal or technical defect in the charge itself
- well-drafted representations land early, before the brief of evidence hardens
- a summary charge was not started in time (more on that limit in a moment)
Less likely, so do not count on it:
- the person who made the complaint simply wants to withdraw (there is a whole section on that below)
- you believe you are innocent but have nothing to back it up
- you leave it late, once witnesses and statements are locked in
- the charge is serious and backed by strong independent evidence
One rule surprises people. For a summary offence, police generally have six months from the alleged offence to start the case (s 179 Criminal Procedure Act 1986 (NSW)). Miss that window and the charge can fall away. The main exception? An indictable offence that is dealt with in the Local Court does not carry the six-month limit.
Why charges actually get dropped
Behind every one of those factors sits a single test. A charge should not proceed unless there is a reasonable prospect of conviction and pursuing it is in the public interest (ODPP, other ways a case can end).
Here is the part that matters for you: the prosecution applies that test, and the prosecution makes the call. In most Local Court matters that is a police prosecutor. In others it is the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. It is not the magistrate, and it is not the person who made the complaint.
How you get a charge dropped
So how do you actually move a prosecutor off a charge? It is a process, not a phone call.
- Get the brief of evidence, the material the prosecution says it has against you.
- Find the weakness or the defence, the gap that makes conviction unlikely.
- Put it to the prosecutor in written, formal representations, ideally early, before the brief hardens into a fixed position.
New or exculpatory evidence follows the same route. It goes to the prosecutor through representations, not to the magistrate as a request to “drop” the charge. The court does not drop charges. The court’s own ways of ending a matter are a dismissal or a section 10, which is a different thing again. The Director of Public Prosecutions can also step in and end a prosecution directly (s 9 Director of Public Prosecutions Act 1986 (NSW)).
Will a dropped charge show up on a police check?
Here is where a lot of people get caught out. If your charge is dropped or withdrawn, there is no conviction, so there is no disclosable court outcome on a standard national police check.
Now the catch, and it is worth being straight about. Police can keep a record of the charge, and non-conviction information can still be released for limited special-purpose checks, such as working-with-children screening. New South Wales runs a spent convictions scheme (Criminal Records Act 1991 (NSW)) that governs what stays visible and for how long. So “dropped” usually means it does not show on a standard check, not that it disappears everywhere.
Dropped vs withdrawn vs dismissed vs a section 10
People use these words as if they mean the same thing. They do not, and the difference changes what happens to you.
| Outcome | Who ends it | Guilt and conviction | Shows on a police check? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dropped or withdrawn | The prosecution | No finding of guilt, no conviction. | No conviction to disclose on a standard check. |
| Dismissed | The court | No conviction recorded. | No conviction to disclose on a standard check. |
| Section 10 | The court | Guilt is found, but no conviction is recorded. | No conviction recorded, so nothing shows as a conviction on a standard check. |
The section 10 is the one that trips people up. A section 10 is not your charge being dropped. The court still finds you guilty; it simply chooses not to record a conviction, and it can dismiss the charge or place you on a conditional order (s 10 Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW)). If someone tells you they “got it dropped” on a section 10, they did not. Guilt was still found.
Can the alleged victim drop domestic violence charges?
This is the question the whole situation often turns on, and the answer surprises people. Let me be straight about how it works.
Most people think the victim has the power to drop charges, but in Australia, that’s not how it works. Once police lay charges, it’s no longer the victim versus defendant. It’s the police versus the defendant. And that means the police and the prosecution decide whether the matter goes ahead, not the victim.
That does not leave the complainant powerless. They can write to the court asking for the charge not to proceed, and their wishes are taken into account. But the prosecution can still run the case on other evidence, so a request is not the same as an ending.
There is a second point here, and it is specific to an apprehended violence order. An interim or provisional AVO does not automatically end just because a charge is dropped. It runs until the AVO application is withdrawn or dismissed, or a final order is made (Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007 (NSW), interim orders under s 24). So you can have the charge gone and the order still in force. If that is your situation, it is worth speaking with an AVO lawyer in Sydney before you assume it is all behind you.
Where domestic violence allegations involve children, they can also shape parenting arrangements, which run on a separate track to the charge.
A real NSW matter
Here is how this plays out in practice. A man was charged with common assault after a domestic incident one night. An interim AVO was taken out, which meant he had to leave the home. Then the situation shifted.
The next day, the wife changed her mind and told police she didn’t want him to be charged and wanted him actually to come home. Sounds like it should be over, right? The police said: we’ve got her original statement, the triple-O phone call, statements from neighbors who heard the yelling, so even without her cooperation we can still run the case.
That is the point to hold onto.
It’s important to understand that the victim’s wishes are important, but they don’t decide the outcome, because once charges are laid the legal system treats the crime as an offence against society, not just the victim.
Can dropped charges be reinstated?
Yes, they can. A withdrawal is not an acquittal, so charges can generally be re-laid, subject to the same time limits. A summary charge still faces the six-month limit (s 179). Double jeopardy, the rule that stops you being tried twice for the same thing, attaches after an acquittal or a conviction, not after a withdrawal. So a dropped charge is not always the final word, which is one more reason to get the outcome recorded properly rather than left loose.
What to do next in NSW
If you are in this right now, here is where to put your energy.
- Get the brief of evidence, so you know what the case against you actually is.
- Get advice early, while there is still time to change the direction of the matter.
- Make your representations before the brief hardens, not on the morning of court.
- Check any AVO separately, because it does not rise and fall with the charge.
Me and my team deal with these matters every week. Book in a chat with our AVO lawyer in Sydney and we will walk you through where you actually stand, what a dropped charge would mean for you, and what to do next. No pressure, no judgement, just honest advice. Call 1300 614 732 or send us a message.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens when charges are dropped in NSW?
The prosecution ends the case and there is no finding of guilt, so no conviction is recorded and nothing shows as a conviction on a standard police check. Police can still keep a record of the charge, and in limited situations the charge can be re-laid, so it is worth getting the outcome confirmed properly.
Can the alleged victim drop domestic violence charges in NSW?
No, not on their own. Once police lay a charge it runs as police versus the accused, so the person who made the complaint cannot simply drop it. They can write to the court asking for it not to proceed, but the prosecution can still run the case on other evidence.
Do dropped or withdrawn charges show up on a police check?
Not as a conviction. If the charge is dropped or withdrawn there is no conviction and no disclosable court outcome on a standard national police check. Police can retain a record of the charge, and non-conviction information can be released for limited special-purpose checks such as working-with-children screening.
Is a charge being dropped the same as a section 10 dismissal?
No. When a charge is dropped or withdrawn, there is no finding of guilt. With a section 10, the court finds you guilty and then chooses not to record a conviction. Guilt is still found, so a section 10 is not the same as your charge being dropped.
Can dropped charges be reinstated?
Often, yes. A withdrawal is not an acquittal, so charges can generally be re-laid, subject to the same time limits that applied at the start. A summary charge still faces the six-month limit. Double jeopardy protection attaches only after an acquittal or conviction, not a withdrawal.
What happens to an AVO if the charges are dropped?
The AVO does not automatically end. An interim or provisional AVO runs until the AVO application is withdrawn or dismissed, or a final order is made. So you can have the charge dropped and the order still in force, which is why any AVO needs to be checked separately.
