assault

[brumster]

After a night out, me and another person had cross words with each other (we were both drunk). Hit he me in the face where upon i hit the floor i got up and said fair enough and walked off. As i walked off he attacked me knocking me to the floor again and continued kicking and stamping on my face and head. I was knocked unconcious. Some else stood and watched then drove my attacker off when he finished. I was taken to hospital where i spent 4 days. I am in the army so upon my release i am on sick leave. No one has been arrested for this assault. I am worried that it will be hard for me prove what happened between us as we were both drunk and i can only remember bits of what happened, plus i dont know what the driver will say. Plus what do you think he will be charged with?

[Peter Pedant]

Insanity ?

Or is that a defence ?

I mean you went out drinking - nothing wrong with that
and got drunk - not much wrong with that
and started mixing it with another drunk, it sounds as tho it was another trooper [very stupid]
and then you got beaten up, [because he was less drunk than you, I suppose]

I mean what do you want him to be charged with ?

This is an episode of your life I would keep quiet about.

[johnny28]

unless someone reports an offence there isnt one, if you were roaring drunk then any evidence you give is open to challenge, which basically means it will be easy to say your version of events is not legit.

The most vital person here is the witness, who even if he was willing to give evidence, you cant be certain what he'd say, if you know this person you can ask him if he'd be a witness for you before you go reporting anything to the police. did your assailant suffer any injuries?

[johnny28]

Also just to point out, you or your friend or any member of the public cannot charge anyone. The police charge people depending on the evidence likewise with dropping charges, the police do that. These days the police can continue to persue charges even if the witness's withrdraw their statements.

In your case you'd 'make a complaint', police take your statement, then could arrest your friend to take his statement,then decide who's getting charged etc

[jonnyboy1]

Its right, nobody will be arrested until you've actually made a complaint to the police, they'll then take a statement off you and depending on the area, may seize the cctv, which can help evidentially when both parties are drunk. what a person is charged with all depends on the injuries you recieved and the intent of the offender, the fact that you've spent 4 days in hospital means that the police can send off for medical evidence which can be used to charge for a more serious offence, and which the CPS will require before they make a decision on charging, that is, if the "threshold test" has been met and the file goes as far as CPS. In some cases, if the evidence is not reliable or there is no realistic prospect of conviction, then the case can be dropped by the police.

[dennilson]

One of your replies contained the following "Its right, nobody will be arrested until you've actually made a complaint to the police" This could not be further from the truth, Police will take action if they believe a crime has taken place, in some cases CPs will pursue an assault even without statements - who makes a statement when you are murdered - Though the evidence has to be strong i.e. CCTV and witness statements and the offence has to be serious enough. Believe me Police powers are wide and sweeping and have changed drastically over the last few years, its a shame the Crown Prosecution haven't got the balls or the ability to follow up any of the Police enquiries correctly, their priority now is to hit targets for Tony Blair......