Cracked Ribs

[jojo74]

my ex has cracked my ribs and was charged at the police station with gbh, he is on bail until 10th november and there is a witness. He has hit me before on numerous occassion and ive always reported it to the policebut because there has never been witnesses before he has always got away with it. what will happen to him will they mention in court that he has hit me before

[maggiebee]

Not 100% sure on this one, but think if he has been formally charged before then these charges will be mentioned in court. Good luck.

[New Judge]

If he pleads not guilty and the matter goes to trial the earlier allegations will most certainly not be mentioned. Even if he is convicted (either by pleading guilty or by being found guilty at trial) the matters are unlikely to be raised. You have to remember that it is the current matter only for which he will be tried and sentenced. If he had previous convictions as a result of assaulting you those matters would be raised but, unless the prosecution got permission to introduce "bad character" evidence in the form of "propensity" (i.e. he's done it before so it's likely he's done it again) those convictions would not be mentioned unless he was convicted.

I don't quite understand why the police/CPS have not charged him previously. There does not have to be independent witnesses to support an allegation. They had a witness to the events - you. One piece of advice I would offer is that you must be prepared to see this through. If necessary you must go to court to give your evidence. The CPS has a policy of pursuing domestic violence matters with or without the alleged victim’s co-operation and if you back out of the proceedings they will almost certainly ask the court to issue a witness summons to force your attendance. Apart from this, for your own safety you should make sure you see this man dealt with and ensure he keeps away from you in future. The court will probably issue a restraining order to ensure this. Statistics show that perpetrators of domestic violence do not “get better” if left unrestrained. They only get worse.

[jourdain2]

I earnestly back-up NJ's statement that perpetrators of Domestic Violence only get worse - from personal experience. He seems to know exactly what is likely to happen - wish I'd been able to ask him! Be prepared to go to court and stick it out to the bitter end so that he can never come near you again. Ex will throw all sorts of accusations at you (you threatened him due to alcoholism is very common - I got a blood test done to prove that I wasn't an alcoholic) so it is not a pleasant experience. I had to go through it in France, where the laws are very strange (i.e. it was against my case that I had left the house for my personal safety, this put me in 'desertion') but I got through. Good luck, let us know how you go on.

[whiskeryron]

It is my personal opinion that we should bring back the stocks for men who assault women. They should put in the stocks every day for at least a month so that decent folks could throw rotting vegetables at them.

[jourdain2]

If only, whiskeryron!

[EDDIE51]

NJ, if this goes to court and jojo is asked about the assault ,( which I assume she will be,) would she be asked if this was the first / only time she had been assaulted?
If they did and she said that it was not the first time but only one of many. Would such a line of questioning be allowed?

[New Judge]

Most unlikely.

As I said in response to an earlier question, criminal trials are very much constrained to examining the evidence associated with the offence charged. If questions are put by the prosecution to probe into earlier incidents not subject to the charges the defence advocate would certainly jump up to interject before an answer can be provided.

[jojo74]

thankyou all for your help, but he has now told the police that i hit him first, which i didnt and the police are now asking if i am willing for my children 12 & 8 to give statements to prove this. He has admitted what he done to me but is now counteracting it with i hit him first. My kids did witness all of this but i dont want my kids to go through this, bearing in mind he has admitted it, yet the police still think without my kids statements the cps will throw it out. Hoping that NJ can answer this. Am i wrong for thinking he should be the one who needs a witness not me.