first offence abh

[im-innoccent]

hello all,im currently on bail after being charged with abh section 47,i was on a night with the lads aving a great night hadn't drunk loads but was tipsy,id been on the dance floor strutting my stuff and decided to have a quick breather,i found a sit and started chatting to this girl we were getting on ok then i accidently spilt my drink on her i apologised several times and offered to buy her a drink but she got really nasty about it and we stared arguing,i went off 2 the toilet as i was doing my buisness i was pushed hard or punched softly in the back of the head,and fell to the ground there was broken glass on the floor and i cut my hand i cleaned it up went down stairs told my friends wat had happened n said i was leaving,on the way out i was confronted by this male who turned out to be the brother of the girl i was arguing with we exchanged a few words he pushed me i pushed him bac then from wat i remember he punched me after this i supposdly head butted him and punched him, we got broke up and i got thrown out after that the police came and arrested me.it turns out i knocked his tooth out and broke his nose,i had a cut on my forehead from either the supposed head butt or the attack in the tolilet,theres no cctv, but several witness 1 being his sister,ive never head butted any1 in my life and work full time and rent a house with my partner,dog and cat. ive been worried sick about wat mite happen, the evidence is being sent to cps, and its my 1st offence, im thinking of pleading guilty 2get it over with if it goes to court which my solictor reckons it will!any ideas wat i mite be looking at???thank u p.s the other guy has not been charged with anything

[zebedee1691]

If you are a first time offender and pleading guilty I would say that you are looking at a sentence of between High Level Community Penalty and 4 months in custody.

It does sound to me like you are guilty of ABH. I know that you had been attacked in the toliets but was it the same person and did anyone witness it? If it were the same person then you could claim provocation in mitigation.

[im-innoccent]

no witness to the attack in the toilet but one of my friends did see him pushing me and throwing a punch before the head butt

[Buenchico]

The sentencing guidelines for non-premeditated ABH resulting in non-permanent injury state that the 'starting point' for sentencing is a 'high' community order. Magistrates are required to start from that point and move the sentence up or down according to the specific circrcumstances. Unless there are very exceptional circumstances, the sentence should be in a range starting from a 'medium' community order and going up to 26 weeks custody.

However, the sentencing guidelines refer to a first-time offender convicted after a trial. The sentencing range for someone pleading guilty at an early stage should be skewed downwards.

So, even without proof of provocation (which would further skew the sentencing range downwards), the chances of a custodial sentence are just about zero. A community order seems almost certain to be the outcome of your offence.

Source:
http://www.sentencing-guidelines.gov.uk/docs/a ssault-against-the%20person.pdf

Chris

[zbearspirit]

Hi. From what you have said I believe that you are on police bail pending CPS advice. They will advise whether there is sufficient evidence for you to be found guilty in court. There are two things that will happen following CPS reviewing the case they could decide there is insufficient evidence for you to be found guiltyand they will cancel the allegation against you or you will be charged and you will go to court. If you are charged the Prosecution will have to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt. From what you say you do have a defence for the assault and that is 'self defence'' which is a lawful excuse to assault someone, there is cctv evidence and if he pushed you first then you pushed him back, he committed the first assault. If you say he punched you first you retaliated by punching him back. The police would of documented your injuries, and you would of said in interview that he attacked you first. If you are charged, do not plead guilty, you believe that you acted properly. Be a man and stand up for your convictions. Do not roll over and plead guilty to something that you believe you were right in doing, cause if you do you will never forgive yourself.

[Rank]

Hi im-innocent. Interesting case. I would think that you would be charged on the basis of the complainant and his mates (sister) filing witness statements that show you in a bad light. This is to be expected as the complainant will have clubbed together with his mates to paint as dark a picture of you and the events as possible.

You mention that you have a friend who witnessed the complainant pushing you first. Did the police speak to him/her? Clearly, you should take legal advice on this matter as a whole -- legal aid may be available depending on your means. If you do need to pay out yourself, you may be able to recoup a percentage of this should there be an acquittal. Your solicitor should take a detailed witness statement from your friend as soon as possible.

A key point will be whether any of the witnesses you refer to are independent -- i.e. not a friend of the complainant or his group. I would think that independent witnesses for this sort of thing are quite rare as people can't be bothered to get involved.

Whether self-defence will work will depend on whether the actions you took where reasonable and proportionate in the circumstances to prevent further attack. If they can prove a headbutt, this will be tough. However, if your witness saw that you did not headbutt the individual it would be useful seeing as there is no CCTV proving otherwise.

What did you say in the interview? Did you make any admissions there? Sounds to me like your recollection is vague, which may not be too much of an issue if your witness can give a clear account. Of course, your recollection may be vague as a result of having been pushed/struck to the floor in the toilets and struck outside. Did you take pictures of your injuries?

[danchip]

it is up to your solicitor to prove that you were acting in self defense and used reasonable force, the prosecution will try and prove that you used unreasonable force or that you were not provoked

your basically i the minefield of what a magistrate with little training believes

i was charged with a similar thing and got a 2 year conditional discharge

[im-innoccent]

yea the police noted the injuries there are no outside witness that i not of in my defence only the people that were with him and my 2 mates and obviously the people with him r gona lie a little to get me in it deeper!!ive done a bit of research and spoke to my solicator my main worry is custdial sentence but most have said that is unlikely as its my 1st offence even if found guilty. iappartently i wont be able to use self denfence as a bhead butts to much force even if its one blow, but i gotta wait now to find out wether it'll get to court and then i can prepare character references etc, the police havent even contacted my friends for statments yet, so will let my solicator no this. thanks every 1 for your answers i let you no how i get on in the new year!

[Rank]

It is worth mentioning that although they should, the police may not even bother taking statements from your witnesses. I am aware of one case where witnesses for the defendant actually presented themselves to the police to give their witness statements, but the police basically told them that they would not take a statement from them until the defendant was charged. What this means, of course, is that the police will take full statements from prosecution witnesses and only present these to the CPS who will then make a decision as to whether or not there is sufficient evidence to prosecute. As you say, the prosecution witnesses will try to paint you in as bad a picture as possible (and effectively lie) -- and it is this that the CPS will see.

As I said above, though, whether or not your witnesses go to the police, or are interviewed by the police, your solicitor should definitely take written statements from them. The witnesses would then be called by your defence team to trial should this matter ever get that far.

[DLawson]

Have a look at http://www.thelawpages.com/sentencing and see what others have received for s47 ABH.

[debbie123]

stop stressing believe me your be ok,apart from having to pay the other person a bit of compensation and you might get bound over as well for 12 months.so not to get into trouble again.your 1st offence so chill out.you be ok.

[masterboy]

i been charged with abh.. got to return to police station in april to find out if im going to be charged..

i was drunk one night and someone start on me..so i sung for him few times..missed all of them except one..and just left a lump on back of head.

what is the maximum ill get. taking in mind this is my first offence