gbh with intent.

[paul29cdo]

im in the middle of a tour in afghanistan, iv just been told that im being charged with the above offence when i get back into the uk. two & a half yrs ago on a night out a lad took a swing at me thinking i was flirting with his partner, 2 males "one a work boss" of my group of friends held me back thinking it would turn into a fight. for the next hr or so the 2 restrainers were giving me dirty looks & so on, they aproached my freind & told him i was no hardman & that i was going to get a beating, they later said if i carryed on looking they would stab me in the face! a hr or so after they had left i left by myself & walked through town wer i saw one of the blokes, as i approached him to ask what his problem was he raised his fist to hit me, i reacted & hit him first braking his jaw & his eye socket. the second man walked around the corner bending down to brake a bottle on the floor, as i backed up against a wall there wer two empty bottles near by which i picked up as he went to attack again i hit him first resulting in a sever cut to the lower face. i was arrested four months ago i was addvised by my solicitor to go no comment. they say i attacted them for no reason, there friends that wer in the club say i was leaving to go & attack them. because my mates work with one of the blokes i told him not to say anything in fear of him lossing his job. it seems now that when i get back in april i dont have a leg to stand on, i have no prev violent convictions but i do have other stuff from over 12 yrs ago. im due back in afghan in oct 09 will this have any bearing? im a good soilder & my regiment think im a assett, any advice as i will have to say this in court but as its only my word i feel certain im going to lose my job & go to prison

[madmaggot]

The police believe the first one to get to them with their story! I would advise anyone to report any incident however small to get their story in first.
Twice things have happened to my family that we have preferred to put down to experience, not having ever been involved with the police, but ended up being blamed as we did not report it first.

[paul29cdo]

the initall scuffle in the club resulted in me & the fella getting on talking & drinking together but the police suprisingly couldnt find him to take a statment! i have no prev for violence.
im not a violent person befor this incident it was in the playground, unfortunutly it seems im alot stronger than i would of thought & when it comes to fight or flight i didnt run.
i understand that now telling the story to the court it will sound un- true but i just went with what my solicitor suggested!

[bednobs]

it sounds very much to me that if you get found guilty you will be looking at a sizeable prison sentence(? five years?)
i presume this will also mean you will lose your job.

There is a big difference between saying you are going to stab soeone in the face (what they did) and actually stabbing someone in the face (what you did). I'm afraid that the "self defence" arguement you are putting forward also wont work, as unless you are a mind reader, how do you know what the other blokes intention was? he will of course deny he was going to go for you.

Of course, waht you should have done on seeing the bloke in town was not to approach him(you are the agressor in this situation). Not that this is very helpful to you now i suppose.

[danchip]

in all cases like this when claiming self defense your solicitor will have to prove you used an appropriate amount of force and the CPS will try and prove you didn't which from what you said will prove very easy for them to do!

you approached them, were aggressive towards them caused serious injury to 2 people, one with a weapon you'll be very lucky not to serve a prison sentence

Personally i would be inclined to think your freedom is more important than your mates job so get him to speak out, im not sure but if he did lose his job due to this he may have a case for unfair dismissal

[paul29cdo]

cheers danchip.
thanx for the advice.