Section 4 Public Order Offence

[PStough]

I was called out of the pub a few months ago after drinking a couple of pints by my daughter who had been verbally abused and the dog she was walking had been beaten with a walking stick.

On arriving home I found my daughter distressed and the dog covered in blood.

Whilst calling the police the man turned up at our house and threatened my daughter again. I went out and chased him back to his car where I then proceeded to hit with an iron fencing pin causing £9k worth of damage.

I have been charged withe the above and criminal damage worth over £5k.

My solicitor has advised me to plead guilty and hope for the best.

Can anyone give me a steer on what sentence I likely to receive in the Magistrates Court please. this is a first offence.

[Buenchico]

See pages 44 and 86:
http://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/October-2015-MCSG.pdf

[Peter Pedant]

.

christ the crowbar bit was overdoing it

You are allowed to protect person and property ( not in the American sense where it seems you can open up with a mchine gun if you have one ) but taking thingy pin to a car is not really self defence as you are finding out

Go on an anger management course before the case is heard

[EDDIE51]

From Buenchico's link and particularly the higher culpability for a 'revenge attack ' it looks like you will be doing a bit of 'porridge'. 6 months is my guess.

[Davemano]

How man pints?

[Davemano]

Came out wrong

How many pints?

[New Judge]

It is always difficult to provide an opinion based on very brief details. When the matter is heard in court the full details of the offence will be provided and that is particularly important in a case like this where the level of seriousness has a considerable impact on the sentence. However, I’ll have a stab (and it’s only an educated guess).

Assuming the Magistrates see the S4 offence falling into the highest level of seriousness you will see from the guidelines that Buenchico has kindly provided that the recommendation for both offences is for a “starting point” of 12 week’s custody and a “range” of between 6 and 26 weeks. One thing is for certain and that is that if you maintain your guilty plea you will not be sentenced to the maximum of six months. If custodial sentences are handed down they will be served concurrently as the offences arose from the same incident. Furthermore, Magistrates can only impose a maximum total sentence of six months custody unless they are sentencing for two or more “either way” offences when their maximum is 12 months. The S4 is not an either way offence so their limit is 6 months. You are entitled to one third off any sentence imposed if you plead guilty at the earliest opportunity so the maximum you will receive is four months.

Now for the guesswork. There is not much in your favour - unless you can persuade the Bench that your actions were taken out of genuine fear for the safety of your daughter. That might be a hard stretch because, from your description, you left your house and chased your daughter’s assailant. You could have remained inside and so this will be seen, as Eddie suggests, as “revenge”. You are entitled to act in self-defence but you are not entitled to chase somebody to give them (or their car) a pasting.

One thing you do have in your favour is your previous good character. Much will depend on the pre-sentence report which will be ordered by the Magistrates before they sentence you. But I may hazard a guess that they will decide that although the offences, taken in totality, clearly cross the custody threshold, in view of your previous good character they can see their way clear to suspending any prison sentence they impose. However, I also guess that they will accompany that suspended sentence with one or two “requirements” which may include unpaid work, a curfew order or supervision.