What counts as breaching an AVO?
Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007 (NSW), s 14: a person who knowingly contravenes a prohibition or restriction specified in an apprehended violence order made against the person is guilty of an offence.
Every AVO contains conditions — at minimum, the standard orders against assaulting, threatening, stalking, harassing or intimidating the protected person. Many add more: no contact, no approach to home or work, exclusion from premises, distance conditions. Contravening any condition is the offence. A text message can be a breach. A like on social media can be a breach. Being in the wrong place can be a breach.
The charge has two parts the prosecution must prove: that you contravened a condition of the order, and that you did so knowingly — which requires that you knew of the order and its terms. Service matters here: if you were never properly served or notified, the knowledge element is in real question.
"But they contacted me first" — the most misunderstood rule in this area
The single most common fact pattern in breach prosecutions: the protected person calls, texts, or invites the defendant over — and the defendant is charged for responding. People assume the invitation must be a defence. It is not.
The order binds you, not the protected person. Their consent does not suspend the order; only the court can change it. And in NSW, the protected person is not criminally responsible for their part in the contact — only the defendant is charged. It is a hard rule, and it catches people who believed they were reconciling.
If contact is genuinely wanted on both sides, the lawful route is an application to vary the order — see our AVOs & Protection Orders pages. Until the order is varied, every contact is a roll of the dice with a criminal charge.
Penalties — and when imprisonment becomes the starting point
The maximum penalty is 2 years' imprisonment, a $5,500 fine (50 penalty units), or both. Outcomes range from non-conviction orders for trivial, technical breaches through fines and community-based orders to full-time custody.
Two factors move sentences sharply upward. First, violence: where the breach involved an act of violence, the legislation directs that imprisonment be imposed unless the court orders otherwise and records its reasons. Second, repetition: multiple breaches are treated as defiance of the court itself — bail tightens, and custody becomes a realistic outcome. The first breach is the one to handle properly.
Defences and answers to the charge
- Knowledge — you were not served with the order or otherwise made aware of its terms;
- No contravention — the conduct alleged does not actually breach a condition as worded;
- Identification and proof — particularly in digital-contact allegations, proving who sent what;
- Accident — a genuinely unknowing contravention, such as an unforeseeable encounter in a public place, examined closely by courts but real where the facts support it.
Where the breach is made out, the work turns to context and sentence: the nature of the breach (a text message is not a doorstep confrontation), the relationship's reality, and the subjective case. Courts distinguish sharply between technical breaches and breaches that frighten.
How Lenz Legal approaches breach charges
Breach allegations arrive tangled in the underlying relationship — often alongside fresh charges, bail conditions and a pending application to vary. The approach is to deal with the whole picture at once: test the service and knowledge evidence, examine exactly what the condition prohibits, address the bail position immediately, and where reconciliation is genuine, put the variation application on a proper footing so the situation stops generating charges.
If you have been charged with breaching an AVO — or police have asked to speak with you about one — get advice before the interview. Explanations offered in the police station, without advice, are where these matters are most often made worse.
Breach of AVO — your questions answered
Can you go to jail for breaching an AVO?
Yes. The maximum is 2 years, and where the breach involved violence the law directs imprisonment unless the court orders otherwise and records why. Outcomes still vary widely with the nature of the breach — a technical breach and a violent one live in different worlds.
Is it a breach if the protected person contacted me first?
It can be. The order binds you, not them — their invitation is not a defence, and only the defendant is charged. If both sides want contact, apply to vary the order; until then, the order means what it says.
Is an accidental breach still an offence?
The prosecution must prove you knowingly contravened the order. Genuine accident or lack of service puts the knowledge element in issue — but courts examine claimed accidents closely. Get advice before explaining anything to police.
What happens after multiple breaches?
Sentencing escalates sharply, bail tightens, and custody becomes realistic. Repeat allegations need senior advice immediately — and usually a structural fix (variation, or strict no-contact discipline) so the pattern stops.