Common Assault Caution - Please Help

[daisymay81]

I have recently been charged with a caution for common assault, to cut a long story short whilst on a night out my friend startrted flirting a bit over the top with a gentleman and the bar owner came over and demanded we leave, there was a lot of pushing and shoving going on which resulted in myself getting punched to the floor by a female member of the bar staff, once I realised I had been punched I got up and retaliated and ended up scramming a gentleman who worked at the bar( I didnt mean to scram the gentleman) but because I was pushing people away I did. I later was taken to police custody and charged with a caution for common assault, I tried to explain to my solicitor that I had been punched and also the police but they were really not interested and when revealing the CCTV there was nothing on there showing the part of me being punched to the floor which I was so upset and annoyed about, I basically looked like a thug!! I have never in my life been in any trouble I have a good life ive been travelling, done a degree and also work within the civil service and now I feel like I am branded as a criminal because of this. I was told to accept the caution or face going to court and recieve a criminal conviction and charged with assault which obviously I dont want. Is there anything at all I can do to get this caution removed ? Please help as i would like eventually to pursue a career in the RSPCA which I know this will not help.

[jackthehat]

1. What is scramming?
2. There is nothing you can do to get the caution removed.

[daisymay81]

Hi thank you for you answer, I scrammed the gentleman with a nail so I left a scram mark where I was pushing.

[mccfluff]

scratching?

[shoota]

Welsh for scratch apparently
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=scram

[daisymay81]

Yes sorry a scratch.

[Orderlimit]

Hi, cautions can be removed but only in very exceptional circumstances e.g. subsequent inquiries prove that no offence occurred. Did you have a solicitor?

[Orderlimit]

Sorry, i just read your post again, the circs you briefly describe amount to unlawful assault on the male member of staff, if your solicitor didn't contest the caution (which you would have to had admitted the offence of unlawful assault) then I would suggest you have little or no chance of having the caution removed.

[Peter Pedant]

to continue the dialect -

you're stuffed or
you've stuffed yourself

BUT it looks like you had legal advice, so there may have been no alternative


and I suppose your friend was a gal and not a guy.....

If the CCTV DIDN'T show you being pushed to the floor
or worse it showed you falling over....
then it doesnt sound as you had much of a case anyway
in which case the advice to accept the caution was appropriate


Just to make you feel better
Mrs 'He made me take the driving points' whose case is being heard at this moment, SEEMS to have been told that she wouldnt get charged when she went to the papers. Liars all of them - journalists I mean.

[daisymay81]

Thank you all,

Yes that is where I went totally wrong by pushing back and scratching the gentleman which I totally regret this I just cannot believe this happened to me. I did have a solicitor who was sympathetic but when I stated that I had been punched to the floor they just didnt care in a sense, does this count for nothing? and I also do not understand why this was not shown on the CCTV. will this affect my chances of getting a job in the RSPCA or a similar role as this is what I have been aiming for but now I feel its all over.

[Orderlimit]

Prob best to email the RSPCA directly and explain the particulars of the offence see what they say. I would imagine a caution for violence may pose a problem for role as Inspector.

[daisymay81]

Well thank you anyway, I think ive just basically thrown 3 years in university away.

[Orderlimit]

Don't give up daisy, all the best.

[Peter Pedant]

Now come on Daisy, pull yourself together and possibly have a stiff drink.... but not at that pub or with your friend....

Nothing is as dark as it seems, as someone with a conviction myself - you live with it. Also reflect on the unwisdom of your actions, and when you apply for any job mention it first and put the following spin on it:

that you have learnt from the experience, come out the other side, and addressed your behaviour (in my case my drinking behaviour)


and all of us have to learn at some point, going out and drinking in moderation.

what my relations in the Indian Army used to call - holding your booze.


and after a drink do all my frenz call me Wild Animal Peter ?
No they usually choose something like Panzy Peter but what the hell in the long term

Honestly when the Publican says he wants to stop taking your money and it is time to go, you have to get up, brush yourself down, clench your buttocks and totter out of the pub - no words, no scramming, but possibly a fixed grin on your face

[daisymay81]

But why does everything seem so bad at the moment?? im scanning websites and companies to see what theyre procedures are and listening to other peoples stories I feel like im doomed. I want a good career and I dont want this to spoil it for me but I have no choice now. I am not a heavy drinker at weekends I think the fact that I did not eat before I left did not help.

[joko]

they are not interested in your assertion that you were punched to the ground because basically it didnt happen im afraid

if they have cctv footage that shows the whole incident - and you were not punched to the floor on it - then it didnt happen.

unless the footage shows you fall to the floor but its unclear how you got there because something was in the way, then thats different, but if its quite clear that you were not hit, then what else can they do?

what exactly does the cctv show?

[daisymay81]

I know 100 percent I was punched I have a swollen face and also all my friends confirmed this. I have friends who are ex police and apparently it happens all the time they will cut bits out of the CCTV or not show certain bits that reveal the sober bar staff assaulting another party as I'm the one intoxicated so therefor I'm the bad one. I've admitted to making a mistake scratching him but I am in utter shock that nothing has been said about me being punched ! I know also and I think everyone does that not all police officers are as clean cut and honest as we think, they are still human and all humans make mistakes or tell little white lies from time to time.

[barney4444]

You got so drunk, you were unable to make the sensible decision and leave when you were asked to, and instead you started fighting and caused a injury to the chap involved,why on earth you think that the caution for common assault should be withdrawn is beyond me. This won`t affect your life to the any great degree but if there is a lesson learnt then that will stand you in good stead.
I am not being patronising as I have had to learn the hard way as well.

[daisymay81]

That is not my point I understand what I did was wrong and I do regret it but I can't understand how nothing was done about me being punched. Everyone makes mistakes and punching someone is not right either !!

[barney4444]

I think in any future interviews for employment you will come across as a sensible hard working girl who made a mistake one evening, and no one sitting opposite you will not have made any mistakes in their lives, and will not judge you to harshly.
I understand that you feel that it has all been dealt with unfairly,but sometimes you must accept that crap happens,shrug your shoulders and move on otherwise this will keep gnawing away at you and become a much bigger deal than it is..

[daisymay81]

I know I think you are right I'm just really upset and angry with myself at the moment and I'm just trying to search for any glimmer of hope, I know I'm just going to have to accept this and move on I just don't like being branded as a criminal or people looking into my background and thinking I'm a horrible person, I just don't want that. I'm sorry if I seem a bit abrupt Its still raw and I'm still a bit upset about it.