Help! Bailed For Section 18 Gbh

[ashamedgirl]

I was on a night out, I got very drunk and don't remember a lot, I got arrested for section 18 gbh with intent. They told me I attacked a man, and after seeing cctv, I would say I did it for no reason. I haven't denied it at all and am very honest in saying cctv clearly shows it as me. I am very ashamed of this. He sustained bruises to the head and a bitten ear lobe. I am truly remorseful and don't remember doing it. It is completely out of character for me. I am so upset this happened and really really would never do it again. I have no previous for violence. I am so scared. Please advise what will happen and is section 18 the right charge. By the way I am a female who has a steady job solid home situation and am a good citizen. I am so scared to go to prison!!

[jno]

soomeone with expertise may be along tonight or tomorrow to give you a proper answer, but in the meantime you might like to read the first post in "related questions" below.

[ashamedgirl]

Thanks jno, just read the post below. Has made me even more scared.

[jno]

sorry I can't help you more but several people on the site have some legal knowledge and can explain things better.

(You may also get some users with fine morals who want to lecture you on your wickedness; just ignore them, you'll know it all already.)

[FredPuli43]

Doesn't sound as though you have been charged yet, just arrested and bailed. Wait, therefore, until the CPS decide what charge they will bring. You will find that out when you attend to answer to bail at some point. When you are charged make no reply to the charge. Get a solicitor when you are charged, if not before. Come back to us when you know what the charge is. I don't see this as a s18 because the intent is not proven; it has to be shown that you had intent to cause really serious injury when you wound the other person or inflict grievous (really serious) bodily harm. In fact, I personally don't see the injuries you inflicted as being grievous bodily harm, but they seem to constitute a technical wounding (i.e an injury which breaks the skin). I'd have thought a lesser charge of s 20 wounding or of assault occasioning actual bodily harm was more appropriate but that's for the CPS. Defending I'd offer a plea of guilty to a lesser charge whatever the CPS thought and would be fairly confident that prosecuting counsel would accept that. S18 can only be tried in the Crown Court so if it is charged you will have to go there, by which time you will have your own barrister to assist you.

[ashamedgirl]

Thank you fred, im just so worried that I will go to prison! I have to wait until November to be charged, will let you know what happens then! And thanks for the support jno!

[jno]

you're welcome. I told you someone would be along to give you a better answer. Good luck.

[ashamedgirl]

Hoping to see a solicitor this week, try and get further information. Hopefully this wont ruin my life for 1 drunken night that I truly regret! I can say 1 thing for sure I wont ever get that drunk again!

[jno]

it might be worth working out how not to get drunk at all. It's not easy when you're out with friends, I know, but you could try practising strategies for not overdoing the drink - finding ways of politely refusing another glass, sipping very slowly, having a glass of water to alternate drinking from, that sort of thing. Or just tell people straight out: "I got into trouble last time I had too much, I'm not going to do it again."

It's hard, but as you say you've got a lot to lose. Best of luck however it works out.

[FredPuli43]

Someone usually comes along and says s 18 is a very serious charge and you can get life imprisonment for it. Ignore them .It is strictly correct but nonsense even in cases of gangs maiming people for life, so forget that. I am betting that they'll take a plea to a lesser charge if indeed they do charge s 18. Drunken nights can end in murder, so being drunk doesn't help, in that it doesn't provide a defence, but with someone like you, no previous, a one off incident of loss of self-control, possibly some provocation (Who knows? You may not because you were drunk, but it may be discernible from the papers and there must have been something to set you off), and something totally out of character, should keep you on the outside after sentence. I'd expect so. Don't pack a toothbrush just yet !

[EDDIE51]

Yes I agree that this doesn't look like a s18, probably not even a s20.
I would say this is ABH or common assault so no risk of prison.
The police often arrest someone on the most serious possible charge as the charge can be dropped a level or 2 but not raised. ( for example they could not arrest you for common assault and then charge s18,but they can do it the other way round)

[ashamedgirl]

Thank you so much guys you are helping to ease my worry alot!!

[Peter Pedant]

Good advice here Ashamed Girl
and learn from it ! it does look as tho you will have to spend on a lawyer.

So many of these posts begin - I don't normally get completely rat-ar+ed, but I did last night/week/month....

and we all think: o god and then what ?

and it ends up that someone is bitten, scratched, stabbed, shot, has their arms broken etc.....

Please learn from this: you know you have to drink alot to 'black-out'
and like us all -you have to learn t drink less to have a good time.

Oh and the other reason to learn to drink less [ I am not saying that you cant go out and have a good time ] is that having a criminal record is a pain in the ar+e. ( I know I have one )

[joko]

was the earlobe bitten off?

i would imagine a permanent disfigurement will not go down well for you

[FredPuli43]

Eddie's post needs clarification, methinks. The count (s) in the indictment (the word for charge(s) in the Crown Court) are for what the evidence on paper discloses. It doesn't matter that the police arrested someone on a more serious suspicion, nor that the CPS have had them charged for a lesser offence. Prosecuting counsel can always ask for the appropriate count to be laid in the indictment when it fits the evidence better than the existing count and the judge will so permit. It does not matter that the new count has a higher maximum penalty. The Court is concerned with presenting the jury with the right options, not just with the mistaken choice of some CPS employee who has drafted the original bill.

However, it is true that police are disposed to arrest on the most serious charge apparent on reasonable suspicion .This makes sense to them. The suspect does not then have the unhappy surprise of being charged later with a more serious offence and the word gets around that they have been arrested for s 18 when he had done " almost nothing", which fact may help to keep the peace for a while.

None of these cheerful considerations should concern you much. Your case is as we have judged it and you should stay calm and get on with your life

[EDDIE51]

Fred , thanks for that clarification I thought that the police always charged the most serious possible offence as it could be lowered but not 'raised'
What would happen if the assault was so serious that death could result? would the charge start as GBH but then go up to murder if the victim died?
ashamedgirl this is NOT addressed to you just a point I need to be clear on.

[Peter Pedant]

My roofer had his ear bitten off
the ear looks like somone has pastry cut a section out
I call him 'Sir' of course

and as far as I recollect no one did diddly squat about it (oldham road - but really that is more an excuse than a reason)

[ashamedgirl]

I agree about the drinking peter. Yes it was joko, but only a little bit. At the bottom Not really very funny society! This is my life and I don't find it funny, try facing this same situation and the potential to loose everything and see if you still find it funny! And thanks again eddie for the excellent advice i am glad there are some sensible and knowledgeable people here that are helping me and fred also for enlightening me, and helping me learn new things!

[FredPuli43]

Yes, Eddie, if the victim of s18 wounding/inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent to do gbh dies, it becomes a murder charge. Normally the death happens before the case reaches Crown Court trial so the man is just recharged and committed to Crown Court for murder, any existing indictment being quashed and a new one issued. The trial can only be on what the papers disclose. If a new, later, statement emerged that the victim had died, the man would be recharged and recommitted because the statement changes the whole nature of the case. Counsel will only change the indictment to better suit what the committal papers or clarification of them shows, to give the jury the correct options. But it is possible for someone to be convicted of s18 yet later indicted for murder; an event more likely since the abolition of the requirement that the victim die within a year and a day for the assault to be murder. I believe that this has happened in recent times.The old common law was based on the idea that after a year and a day it was impossible or unjust to blame the accused for the death, a question essentially of causation. But now doctors might keep a victim on life support and only give up after more than that period, so causation and justice demand that the accused be seen as a murderer.

[Orderlimit]

Eddie, here is a bit of info ref assault charging standards.

http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/l_to_o/offences_against_the_person/#a05