Abh & Common Assault
Hi
Ive recently been charged with ABH to which i am pleading not guilty,this was heard in a magistrates court and the police requested it was heard in Crown court which i also requested.
Ok so this story starts with no surprises in a pub which is in quite a well to do area. I am friendly with all the staff,managers and regulars ,on this particular summers day the pub was holding a cider festival. I arrived at the pub in the afternoon around 6-6:30 to find most of the regulars and the actual manager were pretty drunk and working their way through all of the ciders available as a game/challenge and i heard them say they were on cider #6, this was just the ciders not the rest of the drinks they had been drinking throughout the day so they were quite plastered and although i sat with them briefly at their table they were just too much for me to handle so i went inside.
I don't go out to get drunk and i always drink the weakest beer which in this case was Carlsberg at 4% (i think) ,some of the ciders were 8%. So i think you see what im trying to say here is that i wasn't drunk and the rest of the pub regulars were (very).
So i was in at the bar and a girl and her dad were leaving,we started chatting randomly like you do and the girl decided to stay and have a drink with me,by this time it was just after 7pm,we chatted about people we both knew etc etc time went on then at around 9pm we were sitting at the bar,id had 3 or 4 pints and still wasn't drunk i went to the toilet,as i walked in there were 2 guys one of which i recognised as a regular who i had chatted with a few times briefly in the past and another guy who id never seen before. they both looked completely wasted,the one i recognised was one of the regulars seeing if they could get through all of the ciders on offer that day and by the looks of him it was successful.There was a silence as i walked into the toilet,the guy i knew was standing looking towards the other guy who was slumped over the sinks staring at me like he was possessed and wanted to kill me. i patted the guy id met before on the shoulder and said hi then went to the toilet.i did think it was strange and was a little paranoid as it had gone silent and still was so i felt like id walked in on a conversation or something. i went to go and wash my hands,the other guy was still slouched over the sinks fixated on me but i carried on washing my hands.then i went to dry my hands and this guy stood up in front of the towels deliberately blocking the way and staring at me still. i said "what is your problem?" the guy instantly punched me in the face so i reacted and punched him back. the guy then started to dance around like a boxer and went to punch me again and i put hand up.he grabbed my thumb then fell backwards taking me with him. there was a bit of a scuffle as i tried to get my thumb back and i yanked it back,kicked him in the back of the leg and got out of the toilet.
shortly after this the police and ambulance :o arrived and i got arrested.
so i spent 20 hrs in a police cell,i was questioned and gave my version of events as above.
the pc said she cant see it going any further as the guy has marks on his arm and dont even know where they come from and don't remember anything but they will make further enquiries to find out if i am telling the truth.
I returned from bail to be told i was going to be charged depending on my response,the duty solicitor said if i just plead guilty to part of it i could get a caution and we can all walk away but i said why should i ? all ive done is defend myself so i stuck by my beliefs and said not guilty and so i was charged with ABH.
Now the reason i was charged with ABH is the regular guy that i kind of knew told the police a few days later that id gone into the toilet and attacked the guy for no reason and also said that id stamped on his head,he also said that he got in the way and suffered bruises to his leg,(to be continued)