please help.

[hoviss00]

hi my 21 year old son went to court today for carrying an offensive weapon, it was filmed on cctv in the town centre.because the weapon was in a case it could not be identified between a samaria sword or a pool que. so he was charged with the lesser a pool que, 5 mins before going in the court prosecution changed it to the higher leval the sword because it looked like it had a handle.??. they also brought into a fight which was reported earlier on in the town. now this throws a differant light on the matter.?? he has never been in trouble before at all. what are his chances. of a prison sentence.
thanks if anyone can help with any advice..
his worried mum.

[rjt14]

I saw your post on the other guys question. They do not have his face, They can not assume what he was carrying. Stick to one story it was a pool cue unless proved otherwise. Altho how can they identify something that is concealed.

[rjt14]

Have you seen the cctv ?

[hoviss00]

i havent seen it only my son has in the police station. his face was not shown at all he said he had his hood up all the time, only id him by his clothing.

[hoviss00]

we are hoping that there is no cctv from the fight that occured earlier, because he was there but was not fighting at all. up to now they have only shown him clips after that incident with him walking about town wiv this unidentified item?and being chased by the police, when they caught him the weapon was not found at all he had got rid of it in the chase.
this is not sounding good at all.

[rjt14]

you need to get your son a lawyer. He will get copy of the tape so you can view it. He will tell you exactly what the tape proves or disproves. Did he get arrested the same night ? im guessing so if police know what he was wearing. pool cue is not offensive weapon if concealed in a case.
But im also guessing by what your saying that he was carrying something a little more offensive as he must of got rid of what it was before the police turned up.

I really believe you won't have much of a problem with this. keep it simple.

[hoviss00]

he was caught on the night, then was bailed the next morning to come back for more questioning a week later, then was shown the video tape, he denied it was him and said he was drunk, and cant remember much.?
then went wiv his soliciter today who has not even seen the video yet.!!
and got it referrred for 2 weeks time to review the tapes.??

[rjt14]

Ok he was not seen fighting good thing. He had no weapon when caught. its got to be simple tho. walking through town was going for a game of pool. Fight broke out, (watching is not a crime).

Police turned up he got scared ran away dropped his pool cue, to scared to stop and pick it up.
end of story.
As long as he is not involved in any of the fighting on cctv.
I believe you are entitled to see the evidence yourself before court.

As long as what your saying here is right there will not be much problem.
You can not be charged for unidentified objects. They need to catch him with whatever he was carrying.
I hope it goes well for you. As for prison sentence not a chance but you really need to see the tape for yourself which a lawyer can obtain.

[hoviss00]

ok thanks feel lots better now. will keep you posted on how things turn out...

[rjt14]

I don,t want to sound as if im telling you what to do here.

If it was me i would sit him down and just ask him if there is anything he has not told you.

Im not calling him a liar, but sometimes it can be hard to tell parents the full truth of the matter.

As long as your confident that this is the full story all should be well. Do not worry to much about it. As long as whatever he was Carrying is unidentifiable they can not charge him with it.
Glad you feel a little better.