GBH with intent

[gracielou]

Hi I wonder if anyone can help. My(very foolish) husband is being charged with GBH with intent and is due to stand trial soon. Im terrified that he will be sent to jail and I'll be left with our two young children alone.
Basically he had been on a night out and had taken a snooker cue home from the last pub he was in. He had gone up to a group of lads and a girl chattin when the girl turned nasty and headbutted him to the face and started punching him. He hit her back and the group of lads started to hit him with the cue ends. One of them dropped a cue end and my husband picked it up and hit out with it and then flung it at the group whilst he was trying to run away.Apparently the girl had a 1 inch cut to the head and bruising to the arms which they say my husband has caused by hitting her with the pool cue. The girl and one of the boys in the group have given statement s saying that they were fighting and my huband went and grabbed the cue and hit her with it . They deny hitting him with the cues. There is a witness that saw my husband hit he girl with the cue but also saw the group hitting my husband with cues and also saw them chase him. My husband has no witnesses to say that he didnt instigate the attack. What do you think will be the outcome here, as I say I;m really scared for our children really more than anything else really

[jake-the-peg]

You probably know this but GBH with intent is a very serious offence and the maximum penalty is life.

In 2003 the average sentence was 50 months and the minimum was 6 months.

Even with current overcrowding it's pretty inconceivable for him not to go to prison if he's found guilty of this.

I'd say it will most likely depend on who the witness is, how believable they are and exactly what they say.

I think you need the opinion of a good lawyer who's looked at this in detail

[Peter Pedant]

jake the peg is being jolly tonight

Go out and get a good lawyer

I mean honestly....he took a cue home from the last pub he was in.
Presumably not his but the pub's

so presumbaly the Crown will be saying it was premeditated....and you can see their point.

[gracielou]

Not sure I do see their point, there was no suggestion that he was acting in a violent manner prior to being headbutted and punched. He was absoloutely battered and no one else has been charged here. His barrister says that hes got a 50:50 chance of being convicted but doesnt think they'll be able to prove intent .

[jake-the-peg]

Well his barrister has a much better idea than we do.

The issue of intent is very important.

I already gave you the figures for GBH with intent.

Without intent the minimum sentence was just under a month the average 18 months and the maximum 60 months

[gracielou]

I suppose that I'm looking for reassurances or answers that just aren't there. He isn't a violent man but obviously put himself in a really dodgy position by acting the clown in front of his mates and stealing the cue then going to talk to a group of people he didn't know. Strange but I feel like the children and I would be punished more than him if he were to go to prison as we'd lose out financially and the children would lose their father. Don't know how I would explain it to them either. Thanks for that anyway