Virginia Giuffre: Family violence charge dropped amid revelations she sent nine texts to estranged husband

A charge alleging Virginia Giuffre breached a family violence restraining order has been discontinued in the wake of her death, with it emerging the allegations related to claims she sent her estranged husband several text messages. Magistrate Andrew Maughan on Wednesday agreed to discontinue the charge, almost three weeks after the Jeffery Epstein survivor took her own life in Neergabby, about 80km north of Perth. A police prosecutor revealed Ms Giuffre was handed an order in January which restricted her from contacting her estranged husband, Robert Giuffre. But in February, Ms Giuffre allegedly sent him “nine text messages . . . including YouTube videos”. Defence lawyer Kerrie Louden said “there were arguments” between Robert and her client before the texts were sent. But maintained Ms Giuffre was “innocent until proven guilty.” “I’m not sharing (the reason they argued) with media in the courtroom,” she said. Speaking outside Joondalup Magistrates Court, Ms Louden said her client “was never found guilty”. “The presumption of innocence (is what) we have in our court system,” she told The West Australian. “It’s fundamental that someone is innocent until they’re proven guilty and she was never found guilty, so she’s still presumed to be innocent.” Ms Louden said Ms Giuffre’s family was still in mourning. “They’re pretty upset, they’re still grieving and going through all the various stages of grief,” she said. “It’s going to take a long time for everyone to move on.” Miss Giuffre’s death came less than a month after she posted to social media saying she had just “four days to live” after a crash with a school bus near her home, which police later dismissed as a minor incident. Ms Giuffre was a prominent survivor of billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein who also alleged she was sex trafficked to Prince Andrew as a teenager. In 2021, she filed a civil lawsuit against Prince Andrew alleging that he sexually assaulted her when she was 17. Andrew agreed to an out-of-court settlement but has repeatedly denied the allegations. An infamous photograph of Ms Giuffre as a teenager standing with Andrew and Epstein’s fixer, convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell, has been central to a host of court proceedings. “It is with utterly broken hearts that we announce that Virginia passed away last night at her farm in Western Australia,” her family said on April 26. “She lost her life to suicide, after being a lifelong victim of sexual abuse and sex trafficking. Virginia was a fierce warrior in the fight against sexual abuse and sex trafficking. “She was the light that lifted so many survivors. Despite all the adversity she faced in her life, she shone so bright. She will be missed beyond measure.” Lifeline: 13 11 14