ABH charge

[danska]

A friend of mine attended magistrate court over abh charges and pleaded it was self defence. The judge ruled that it had to go to crown court which is coming up soon. As my friend has no previous charges for anything other than drink driving, what is the likleyhood of my friend going to prison. The other party attended hospital but was sent home the same evening with severe bruising but no broken bones? Any advice would be of help. Thanks.

[ummmm]

Well if the magistrate sent it to crown then they think he should get a sentence longer than 6 months.

[danska]

Even if he has no previous charges for violence?

[zebedee1691]

The only reason that the case would have been sent up to crown court is that the bench/judge thought that it would potentially attract a sentence of over 6 months custody.

The fact that he has no previous convictions for violence does not mitigate the offence, but if he had previous similar offences it would aggravate it.

If it was considered that the assault was premeditated or a weapon was involved it would be likely to be sent up regardless that the injuries were non-permanent.

[paraffin]

danska:

You've given absolutely no details about how this all came about, i.e. what were the circumstances leading up to the incident and what exactly took place.

The fact is that the offence of ABH, if dealt with at Magistrates Court, carries a maximum sentence of 6 months.

However, at Crown Court it can be up to 5 years.

There are clearly reasons which you haven't given as to why it has been sent to Crown Court. You've obviously left some relevant details out of your post.

[danska]

Parrafin, ok here goes, this friend is my ex partner who i have two children with. We split up and he still had keys to my house. I was in my house on the day of the attack with a male friend who he disliked as he was jealous of how i was friends with this male and i also had my father present. Suddenly my front door opened and in came my ex partner and his two brothers and his father. they had come to get my ex partners belongings. Once my ex partner saw the male in my kitchen with my father they started arguing. I do not remember what they argued about as i was very very drunk. Anyway a fight broke out and i tried to split it up but my father took me out of the situation and kept me in the garden. Before i knew it the police had arrived and whilst my house was being emptied of all mine and my ex partners belongings they arrested my ex partner and his two brothers. I was interviewed by the police but cannot hand on heart remember what i said as i was so drunk. Now i may be subpoenard to go to court to give my statement which i do not remember giving. My ex has no previous conditions apart from a drink driving offence a couple of years ago. This is totally out of character for my ex to act like this and now he is up on a abh charge. He is considering to plead guilty. Do you have any thoughts on how this case will go??