Will my friends ex partner be looking at a custodial sentence for ABH & Criminal Damage?

[boroughlad]

My friend received two facial fractures (Requiring surgery to raise his check bone back into place) and numerous bruises and bleading to his face after being attacked for no reason by his ex partner. His ex partner was arrested at the scene and was charged with battery and criminal damage by the police and his ex partner is not denying doing this and in fact laughed throughout the whole incident even during the police interview but when my friends ex partner attended magistrates today these charges were raised to ABH and Criminal Damage as my friends ex partner had smashed his mobile phone and glasses to bits as well. My freinds ex partner pleaded guilty but wants to be tried in Crown Court. He was issued with a restraining order at magistrates today and the case was adjurned until 18th January 2010 to appear at crown court and he was released on bail until this date.

Will he be looking at a custodial sentence does anyone know?

[boroughlad]

Sorry the Crown Court date is 18th January 2011 not 2010.

[Buenchico]

Here's the document which judges are obliged to refer to:
http://www.sentencing...person_accessible.pdf
See page 17 for the guidelines on sentencing for ABH. (It should be noted that those sentences refer to a first-time offender, convicted after a trial. Higher sentences can be passed on an offender with previous convictions).

It's likely that any sentence for the criminal damage offence would be concurrent, so you can just refer to the guidelines for sentencing ABH.

I'm amazed that the charge isn't 'GBH'. See paragraph 45 onwards, here, to compare the difference:
http://www.cps.gov.uk...he_person/#P189_14382

My guess (based upon the information you've provided) would be a sentence of around 12 months (of which 6 months would actually be spent 'inside').

Chris

[boroughlad]

The CPS and Witness Protection did try very hard to have it raised to GBH but the Magistrate was determined to only raise it to ABH. My friend is very upset about this, and is still recovering from the injuries. The incident happened 3 weeks ago.

[New Judge]

Magistrates (and District judges sitting in the Magistrates' Court) have no say over what offence is charged. That is a matter solely for the CPS and the Magistrates' job is to deal appropriately with the charges brought.

If the CPS "over charge" there is often less chance of a conviction so when there is any doubt they tend to err on the lower side.

[DTCwordfan]

probably yes - depends on the form they have and if there are two sides to this story - that you may not be aware of.....his laughing at the boys in blue and if captured on cctv will not help the defence.

[boroughlad]

Witness Protection have been in constant contact with my friend and said they were in consultation with CPS about raising the charges to GBH and they agreed on this but this never happened today and instead the charges were only raised to ABH. I don't understand why this fell short of GBH as there are fractures involved and some serious bruising.

[boroughlad]

DTcrosswordfan - They offender (my friends ex partner) has not denied any of the charges and the police told my friend that his ex partner did not have any defence or another side to the story and admitted to everything. He had basically lost the plot. My friend had told his ex partner that their relationship was over and that is way my friends ex partner lashed out on my friend and at one stage held him captive threatening suicide in the flat they were sharing.

[DTCwordfan]

right - though this may seem "cruel" - here's the betting - do you want a nigh on 100% bet that he/she goes down for 3-6 months for ABH (depending on past form) or a 60% bet of GBH sticking for 1 to 2 years - or read this alternatively that he/she gets released is a 40% chance. And what you are talking about is how iron-tight is the accusation...... In other words, in the US if you are pushing for Murder 1 and this results in a death verdict, you have to be unequivocally and beyond doubt. Murder 2 (life) allows some doubt in the jury consideration (and rightly so that there is this difference - there's a famous case involving the Revlon heir on this in Texas). Your 'case', though of a lesser scale involves the same principle of "if we push for the more serious level of accusation, then greater the level of infallibility of evidence and opinion required"

[boroughlad]

DTcrosswordfan - The offender (my friends ex partner) has not denied any of the charges and the police told my friend that his ex partner did not have any defence or another side to the story and admitted to everything. He had basically lost the plot. My friend had told his ex partner that their relationship was over and that is why my friends ex partner lashed out on my friend and at one stage held him captive threatening suicide in the flat they were sharing. My friend only got away from that captivity situation by saing to his ex partner that he thought they should go to his ex partners parents house and luckily his ex partner agreed otherwise my friend may have been stabbed as his ex was waving a knife around threatening to slash his wrists. My friend would have called the police but at this stage his mobile phone had been smashed to bits.

[boroughlad]

DTcrosswordfan - The police have said to my friend that this case is as iron tight as they get as his ex partner has no excuse for what was done and has not provided any defence for what-so-ever.

[DTCwordfan]

we are neutral in this; the CPS have the best judgement of what will 'stick' - Justice is often not perceived as fair but, from the neutral angle, what they may partially lose on one case, they gain on another, to the benefit of society at large over time. perhaps this is best summed up as "Harsh but Fair."

[boroughlad]

DTcrosswordfan - Regarding previous convictions my friends ex partner has a string of drugs related charges for which he has been basically slapped on the wrists for in the way of cautions by the police and has assaulted someone before but the other party withdrew the charges.

[DTCwordfan]

this will be taken into consideration and they will push for the max on ABH.......not sure hopw long but you can bet safely doubel; if not more - some other ABer will advise

[boroughlad]

I must correct this I have just found out the offender pleaded not guilty at Magistrates yesterday as this wasn't clearly explained. But the police have a sufficient amount of evidence to prove that he caused this in way of photographs and he admitted to it on tape during the police interview. This is going for trial by jury at crown court on the 18th January 2011 but what my friend doesn't understand is why he pleaded not guilty to ABH and pleaded guilty to criminal damage?

[boroughlad]

EDDIE51 - There is no previous between my friend and his ex partner except the had, had a relationship and there is nothing my friend knows of he can use as mitigation. During the interview which was recorded by both tape and video tape my friends ex partner admitted to everything to do with ABH charge and criminal damage laughing as he admitted it. My guess is he is trying to have the case dragged out in the hope my friend drops the charges against him. My friends ex is actually denying assaulting my friend and causing ABH nothing else. The police and witness protection have stated that the case is clear cut and my friend has nothing to worry about.