ABH section 47

[aworriedmom]

My 18 year old son came to the defence of his 16 year old cousin, he stood in between his cousin and the much older man that was threatening him, the older man grab my son around the throat strangling him, My son fought back, the other man came off worse with three broken ribs. I called the police to report that my son had been assulted but the police did not attend. Three hours later they knocked on our door and arrested my son. He has been bailed but they have now charged him with ABH section 47 and set a court date.
My son has never been in trouble of any kind before now, I am really worried that he is going to be found quilty and end up with a crimial record that he does not deserve. Can you please tell me what will happen if he does not plead quilty.

[Law Man1856]

Hi

If your son acted in the way you describe the incident then he has little to worry about. Was the incident witnessed by anyone other than his cousin? If so what was thier account of the incident? For your son to be charged the CPS must think they have a good chance of winning. Did you son have injuries? Bruising around his throat, were they recorded ( photographed ) by the police?

If he is innocent ( self defence ) it may be better to opt for a trial where the whole incident will be examined in depth. However this can be very hard going but often better than an apperance at magistrates.

Hope this helps.

Law Man

[aworriedmom]

Hello Law Man

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply.

Your questions are the reason that i asked the question in the first place, I really dont understand how it has got this far! The police did take pictures of his neck and there are other witnesses, the problem is that the other party are not being honest about what happened, they have made up witnessess on there side and said that my son used a bat on the man, these are both fabrication and cannot understand why the law have not seen through this. They have a bad reputation for being a 'hard family' etc and i personally think that is why they are making things up. The police in my mind have not done a very good job in investigating the whole incident (they have not even questioned my newphew with whom this whole nightmare started or myself as i was also on the scene just seconds after the fight. The only reason they knew that we had a bat in the house is because about 30mins after the fight two men came to my house screaming that were going to kill my son, I was at the gate holding them away from my house, son and twelve year old daughter, thats when my son stood in the garden with the bat. Im at my wits end and really concerned that the law is going to let my family down. We have never had any dealings with the police or courts. I have always thought that truth and honesty preveils but I am really starting to doubt this now.

[Peter Pedant]

erm sorry there are three broken ribs to explain. Hence preusmbly the bat.

See a lawyer and get a defence going.
I agree, self defence may well get up and run.

PP

and the moral of the story is to tell your kids to keep out of fights !

[danchip]

i'm in a similar situation worriedmom a taxi driver attacked my brother after an argument about the fare i split it up and now myself and my brother are being done for assault, the police haven't investigated it and have gone purely on the word of the taxi driver who has fabricated his statement

its shocking the way the police act sometimes

[busta233]

I have been through exactly the same with my son. He pleaded not guilty and went to crown court in front of a jury. It was only this lads word against my sons. No witnesses and the police took no forensic evidence (which there was some available). The CPS took it to court with no witnesses and no forensics because my son as a previous conviction. The CPS knew that this would be brought up in court and the jury would automatically presume my son did this - believe me, he didn't. The other lad got into the witness box and was absolute rubbish, my son did well in the witness box. The judge on his summing up even said that they could only convict my son if they believed the four different stories that the defence witness had given to be true. The found my son guilty because of his previous conviction. When the judge sentenced my son he stated iin his summing up that he had thought the trial to be a farce and that he had to sentence him because he had been found guilty and gave him the least sentence possible. But it is still a conviction.

The police and the CPS new they had got a conviction has soon as they saw my sons previous conviction and followed it through just to get this conviction.

Proper policing - it was an utter farce - just like the judge said.

[aworriedmom]

Peter Pedant
Sat 15/12/07
23:20 erm sorry there are three broken ribs to explain. Hence preusmbly the bat.

See a lawyer and get a defence going.
I agree, self defence may well get up and run.

PP

and the moral of the story is to tell your kids to keep out of fights !

If you had bothered to read my relpy to Law Man you would have read the explanation about the bat! My Son does not fight! he was defending some one younger than him and then trying to protect his family and home from so called friends of the man that started it all, he was trying to do the right thing! THE BAT WAS NEVER USED! The man ended up with broken ribs because my son used his knee to get free from the mans strangle hold!

[aworriedmom]

Thank you Law Man, danchip and busta233 for your constuctive input. Sadly I feel even more so that justice will not preveil for my son,

[paulos66]

I suspect that the 'hard' family are actually police informants which is why they haven't taken too much notice of your side of the story - a 'hard' man wouldn't run to the police.
It amazes me still that in a fight the winner is almost always assumed to be the agressor

[danchip]

what i have learnt from my experiences are that the police tend to be on the side of the first person to ring them

[mrs_overall]

Just a point - you say you rang the Police to report your son had been assaulted and they did not attend.
Did they give you a crime reference number? I think I would be making a complaint about this if I were you.
Also, see a solicitor.

[huffy1986]

Hello, I am in the same situation, i have got to go to court tomorrow being accused of assault. I felt threatened by a lad bigger than me, also is/was uk kickboxing champion in his class. as he went to him me, i hit him 1st. he got up so i hit him again, as we were in a pub, the door man told me to go. I felt i did no wrong as i felt threatened and frightened. In his statement he stated that i was heavily drunk and had a drink in my hand. and that i flew over a table to hit him...Fact is is that i was standing bout 1 foot away from him, with my hands in my pocket. and i had finished work at manchester at 1900, drove home(stoke) and got showered/changed, got a taxi to stoke town centre, and got to the pub at 2130-2145, the incident happend at 22:15, so that is my proof that he was lying in his statement. he was sat down and when he jumped up to hit me, i slid my hand out of my pocket and hit him with a quick flick of my wrist. Also he had a Witness!!!! That even said after the incident to my Girlfriends sister, that he saw nothing, nobody did apart from an old couple sat behind us. i dont know who they were so cant get any statement from them. no camares in the pub either. Back to the invisible witness...He stated that i hit him 5-6 times. and also the person i hit stated that to...but before that said he was knocked out....so they have messed up with there statement....The police asked why he had 2 black eyes and bruised cheek bone, i replied i hit him twice. when hit him in the nose, that must of gave him black eyes, and the second him bruised his cheek bone. Now i am goin court for charges ABH section 47. I am not to pleased how people get away when they make statements up...you would of thought, as the police deal with these types of issues all the time...that they would see straight through these people. The lguy in hit, was also uset that he didnt get a hit on me,(because the bouncer had to leeave the pub, that is what his girlfriend told my girlfriend......

[dannmdmmd]

everyone should realise **** the pigs there **** always have been and always will be there no help they jus seem to **** the right people off and let the wrong people get away with it