Husband Charged With Common Assault

[Princessciroc]

Me and my family were outside and my neighbour cut the hedge and thre it in our yard so my husband threw it back she threw it again and wen my husband through it back apparently it hit her eye so two weeks later police came and asked him to come to the station to record the situation 2 weeks later they sent a letter askin him to come to court as he has been charged pliz tell me what's likely to happen or advice pliz

[EDDIE51]

Common assault is a magistrates court only offence, in a case like this expect a small fine or a conditional discharge.

[jackthehat]

Have a read of this:
http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/s_to_u/sentencing_manual/common_assult/

[New Judge]

The above assumes he is going to plead guilty.

A chat with a solicitor may confirm whether the evidence is sufficient to ensure a conviction (the brief details you give us are not enough)

[Princessciroc]

No he is not it wasn't intentionally

[Princessciroc]

He basically threw it in our yard and we threw it back and it hit her

[Orderlimit]

Have you spoken to a solicitor about this case Princessciroc, as assault and battery can be committed intentionally or recklessly.

(An assault is committed when a person intentionally or recklessly causes another to apprehend the immediate infliction of unlawful force. Battery is committed when a person intentionally and recklessly applies unlawful force to another).

[New Judge]

As ol points out, there does not have to be intention. Your husband should speak to a solicitor before entering his plea. If he does plead not guilty he will not face trial that day. The court may go through a trial review process which will identify the issues in dispute and sort out who needs to attends to give evidence. Then a trial date will be set.

[EDDIE51]

Remember what you have been told by New Judge and Orderlimit. It does NOT have to be intentional he can still be found guilty if he threw it 'recklessly', in other words if he did not make sure no one was in the way before he threw it.
If he pleads guilty there is an automatic 1/3rd reduction in the sentence, if he pleads not guilty and it goes to court there will be no reduction in sentence.
What damage was done to the other persons eye ? that is what will determine the sentence if he does go to trial and is found guilty.

[EDDIE51]

Just a thought , are you in the UK ?
I ask because somethings do not seem like the UK situation, 'yard' is not commonly used here we say' garden' , and the police procedure does not seem like how things happen here. You would be charged by the police at the police station not by a letter asking you to come to court.

[Orderlimit]

Sorry I should have clarified that the definition of recklessness used in assault offences is the subjective test which basically states recklessness involves foreseeing the kind of harm that occurred and going ahead anyway. It's a subjective test since the court need to decide what the defendant was thinking at the relevant time.

[Princessciroc]

Yes I have and her eye looks Ma lawyer said not guilty plead

[EDDIE51]

Princessciroc I am still not sure what you mean, your last reply does not make much sense . What was the damage to the eye and are you in the UK?

[Princessciroc]

No they wasn't any damage it basically passed through her eye yes I am in the uk

[bednobs]

i'm not sure why you are asking for legal advice here, when you are already paying for it and getting it elsewhere?

[EDDIE51]

No damage? Your words!
So your husband has blinded another person and is only getting charged with common assault? Sounds like GBH to me.
If, as you say there was no damage there is no case even for common assault, yet again we are getting only part of the story. What actually happened and what was the damage to the other person?

[EDDIE51]

Sorry missed a line in my answer
'' it basically passed through her eye'' yet you say there was no damage!

[boxtops]

I don't know why this happened in the first place - your neighbour did the right thing in returning the clippings to you. The law says they have a right to cut plants overhanging their garden but must give the clippings back to you. Why therefore throw it back?

[hc4361]

The OP hasn't said whose hedge it is.

[lcg]

right.....at the end of the day, your neighbour is entitled to cut stuff which hangs over into their garden and should at the very least offer you the clippings/stuff back as it is your property. it was stupid of her to throw it over the fence/boundary while you were in your garden and this could be seen as provocation, depending on where you were/what happened precisely (e.g. did she hit your hubby with any of the stuff thrown over?). however....despite this, your hubby was stupid to throw it back over (and anything else that may have occurred during the to-ing and fro-ing of the hedge bits) and can also be seen as being childish, provocative and inflaming the situation. ok, he hurt her eye, but it was unintentional and you say there was no damage....but it might be that she had to attend a+e/gp/walk-in centre and you do not necessarily know about that at this point in time.he can plead not guilty, but if there were witnesses and he has admitted throwing the stuff over the fence and that he hurt her eye at the time, so he is admitting there was contact between him, her and the hedge bits. if i were him (you) i would discuss things further with your legal representative and admit that this happened in court (plead guilty) as the judge will be more sympathetic, he will be telling the truth and will get a much lighter sentence for doing so as it is such a silly incident. of course, if your husband has a job where a criminal conviction may complicate things for him, you may wish to reconsider my first advice and plead not guilty - but if he is fund to be guilty, the punishment will be much worse for him. if he explains to his current and future employers that this happened and the reasons for his conviction, i doubt anybody would be particulalry worried about it.....but this is something that you will all have to live with and learn from. has he tried apologising to the neighbour for what happened in person or by letter or is your relationship more complicated that that/have other things occurred? it may be that your neighvbour finally has the excuse she has been looking for to stick the boot in, but either way this case is not going to go away without careful consideration.

[New Judge]

As Eddie pointed out in the first answer, Common Assault is a summary offence and can only be dealt with in the Magistrates' Court. So unless, unusually, the court is presided over by a District Judge, no judge will be involved.