abh

[suse17]

my nephew was involved in a fight in september where a lad pushed him in a club and he stupidly punched him in the head once totally forgetting that he still had his glass in hand .immidiatly after he admitted it and was arrrested and kept overnight and bailed he has since been to court and been advised to pleed guilty of hitting him but it was in self defence.the police got the charges dropped down to assult by beating due to the fact that they believe it was a silly mistake but now the charges seem to av gone up to abh and going to crown court he holds down a managerial position and though only young we realy dnt know what to expect the other lad had 4butterfly stitches in his head.does anybody have any aadvice on if he will go to prison and for how long

[stuart936]

If he is over the age of 21 I would expect he will receive a 12-18 month custodial sentence. How can anyone forget they have a glass in there hand when they punch. He is just trying to get off with a lesser sentence but if judge believes he is lying he is liable to receive a heavier setence. possible 2 years.

The use of a glass in any fight often results in prison.

[suse17]

he is 20 and full or remorce do you deffinatly think that he will go down then and

[stuart936]

This sounds silly, but it really does also depend on the area of the country you are in, crime rates etc, places like Gloucestershire and Cornwall you will be sent to prison without doubt i believe, however places like London, Manchester & Liverpool you will most likely get suspended sentence or probation with a fine.

The crime is a serious one, so do not rule out custodial, being under the age of 21 that is a favourable thing, still a young offender.

[jake-the-peg]

"Glassing" is a really serious offence and there have been guidelines specifically relating to it.

The original suggestion was that a deliberate glassing should attract a tarrif (time actually served) of 3 years and I think that was upped to 5.

So it's pretty good that they accept that it was accidental and he was doubtlessly charged with ABH rather than GBH because the injury was quite slight.

However the fact that it's being heard in crown court may indicate that the magistrates do not feel their powers of 6 months imprisonment are sufficient and in the sentencing guidelines consultation document use of a weapon in ABH has a *starting point* of 12 months (see below)

http://www.sentencing-guidelines.gov.uk/docs/A SSAULTS-Consultation-paper.pdf

An unplanned offence with minor injuries however attracts only a community order

I suspect it will come down to whether they truely believe the weapon was an accident - sounds like the sort of situation where a good lawyer could make a big difference

[Ice.Maiden]

I totally agree with Jake on this one. A good solicitor is vital, because good job or not, glassing someone'll be frowned on. With the common use of weapons nowadays, the courts are beginning to clamp down - and rightly so, I have to say.

[suse17]

thank you for taking your time to reply we are so worried we have never had anybody in the family in trouble before and the court he has to goto is stafford crown court we dont have any idea what to expect he has two good character witnesses one from his boss and one from a lady he used to babysit for .do you think that we can do anything else my family are besides themselves with worry he hasnt ever been in trouble before either thank you for reading this

[Tichfield]

Nephew gets "pushed" so nephew punches pusher.

That's no way for anybody to act.

Nephew "forgets he has glass in his hand".

I think he needs a better story than that one.

[suse17]

apparently all night there was goading from this group of lads which were ignored up until he went for him at the end of night(the other lad) then he reacted as he did as soon as it happened he owned up and was shocked that was what happened i know that it dont sound very good what do you think the likelyhood of him servin a longer sentance than 6 months and how much of that woul he actually go to prison for does anybody know also in the court this lad has said that he threw his bottle at him which is a lie cause he fully admits he ad iz glass in hand and he got cuts on his hands to prove it i know that it is worse but the solicitor apparently best in the town said that hre was deliberatly lying and seems to want to get lots of compensation where we agree that glassing is one of the lowest things to do we hate itnobody deserves that.Hedeserves to be punished for what he has done but sometimes its not always tha ones that go out week after week looking for trouble that get caught

[stuart936]

He could well go to prison, however I think he may get away with a supervision order of some kind, But only if he pleads guilty and agree's he was in the wrong and is very remourseful.

Key things:

Plead Guilty.
Wear a Suit.
Offer to do a drink and drug rehabilitation course.
Admit that the crime is totally un-acceptable and say that you understand prison is an option.

There is many ways to make a good impression with a judge.

[fredpuli47]

What you need is a good advocate, as stated. What is clear is that the magistrates thought this could be worth over six months, otherwise they'd have happily dealt with it themselves.

This needs to be well presented. It may be that counsel can persuade the court that this was a punch by someone who happened to have a glass in their hand, that is, that the injury was caused by the fist and the glass was not a factor, it wasn't an injury caused by broken glass . It may be that the injury is consistent with a punch e.g if it's on the eyebrow. (Boxers get cut eyes all the time, remember). It doesn't sound, just from the injuries, as though the glass was necessarily a factor in the hurt.

Good luck!