Question Author
A car window was broken. The car was owned by the sister of the witness. The sister/owner did not press charges or make a statement. The witness dialed 999 at around 6pm and stated his sister's window had 'just' been smahed whilst parked on the street(sister was not home).
He was asked to give a description of suspect. He did not. He gave the name of the defendant, his neighbour, and said he saw him running down the street.
5 or 10 minutes later a police officer arrived and arrested the defendant as he was leaving his house. After some discussion with the witness the police officer took the defendant the station. The officer, in his statement, states the witness said the window had 'just' smashed
The defendant represented himself at magistrates court and was convicted, in absence, of criminal damage. The hearing lasted about 30 minutes(defendant was late) so we can presume the witness statement was read to the court. The defendant saw none of the witness in court. It is not clear what happened at this hearing.
The court previously appointed a legal advocate to cross ex. on behalf of the defendant as the witness' evidence may be diminished if questioned by the defendant. Witness is a normal adult. The court instructed firm states no advocate attended
The case was appealed at crown court with legal representation and failed. The witness did give 'live' evidence as did the police officer.
the police officer gave evidence first basically said 'i arrested him'. The judge told the prosecution to call him first
The witness stated in court(as he did in his statement) that he came home from work at 5:40pm went upstairs came back down at 6pm and heard smashig glass and saw the defendant.
The fb post, date stamped 5:50pm, states 'love smoking in the sun'. No sun on the front so he must have been in his back garden This was not mentioned in court
The witness was not asked why he told the police officer it happened at 6pm.
The 999 call was not presented to the court, nor was the witness asked about it