Section 18 What Will I Get?

[hmm22]

hi, I when to school with this girl, never really new eachother though, ended up speaking to one of her ex's, then she got back with him months after and found out inboxed me of facebook calling me names I said sorry ect that was it, then we end up at the same party in a local pub, where she keeps giving me dirty looks where I was a little drunk I kept laughing it off, which im guessing made her angry, we then both ended up outside talking to different groups of people in which I here he mention my name more tha once so I turn to her n say are you talking about me n she tells me no at first so I say clearly your are before I could say anything else she starts shouting calling me names ect, so I walk towards her and she pushes me away a little to which I drop my glass and punch her in the face, we both end up with eachothers hair she hits me in the face and we got pulled apart, tha was it well so I thought, I then find out the next day she have been to hospital had two stitches in her nose and have claimed I have glassed her:/, in her statement she said she got hit in the face seen blood and glass on the floor so she knew then she had been glassed:/ even though there was no glass found in her wound. there is no cctv so its going on her word against mine, I then find out her boyfriend have given a false statement saying he was there and seen it all, ovbs to back her up, but I am 100% he was not there, he is the kind of person if he was there would have hit me himself. after we had, had the fight he was threatening me, anyway it was in a tiny space where this happened so he couldn't have fitted there, no one did actually see wha happened one other girl have given a statement saying she heard a scuffle but didn't see any glass used. when I first got charged it was a section 18 then after my statement it when to s39 and have now changed back to 18 and is going to crown court, i am really worried as i have never been in trouble before. i was going to plea guilty to the s39 as i did hit her in the face and cause a mark, where as she had hit me and there was nothing i just lost a bit of hair, but now its at s18 i do not want to plea guilty as i did not use the glass and don't want to get sentenced for something i didn't do, what do you guys think i will get? thanks.

[Buenchico]

Two stitches in a nose shouldn't merit a GBH charge. See here for the type of injuries that constitute 'GBH':
http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/l_to_o/offences_against_the_person/#a15

So, if your account of the injuries is correct, the court will throw out the GBH charge, and substitute ABH anyway.

However I'll answer your actual question. (i.e. "what is the likely penalty for a 'Section 18' conviction?"):
The circumstances you describe suggest that the court would regard it as a 'Category 3' offence, meaning that the 'starting point', which a judge has to work from, is 4 years imprisonment. Unless there are really exceptional circumstances the minimum sentence can't be below 3 years and the maximum can't be above 5 years.

The sentences I've quoted refer to a first-time offender who is convicted after a trial. An early guilty plea can see one third deducted from the sentence, while previous convictions (particularly for violence) can see the sentencing range pushed higher. Normally half of the nominal sentence is actually spent 'inside'.

See pages 3 to 6 here for further information:
http://sentencingcouncil.judiciary.gov.uk/docs/Assault_definitive_guideline_-_Crown_Court.pdf
(That's the actual document which judges must refer to when considering sentence. Scroll down to pages 11 to 14 to see the sentencing guidelines for ABH).

Chris

[FredPuli43]

The CPS, having considered the papers, have decided it's a winnable s18, wounding with intent. From what you say,that will be because they think there's enough evidence of a glass being used. It does not follow that no glass being in the wound rules that out.

Have you seen the witness statements yet?

[hmm22]

thank you for you answers guys:)... the reason I do not want to plea guilty is because what is said isn't true, the girls statement says she got hit in the face, seen blood and then seen glass on the floor, that's when she knew she had been glassed, she didn't actually say she seen me glass her, but the boyfriend have said he witnessed it all, but he only came out afterwards when it was all over and that's when he started shouting threatening, when taken to court do you think they will realise her boyfriend is just covering for her as there was no cuts on my hand from glass no broken glass over the girl, no glass in the wound, and the cut is so small, even my solicitor pointed out the cut would have been a lot worse if it had been done by a glass, im really stressed about it, because no1 actually seen it but hes saying he did so its two against one im just wondering maybe if there was cctv in the pub it would show her boyfriend was in there at the time it actually happened? hmmm

[FredPuli43]

Those are all good points for the jury, hmm. Your counsel will sort that out.

[EDDIE51]

All the points seem to have been covered by Chris and Fred.
In your case my advice would be to plead not guilty and go to trial.
If it is all as you say there should be a good chance of acquittal or of the charge being dropped back to S39. But you need to ask the advice of your solicitor.

[hmm22]

thankyou for you answer, do you think this boy will get done for perverting the course of justice as he was not there? I am going to plead not guilty, if it do get dropped to something lower, because of what I done I will take full responsibility, I have admitted to hitting her and having a little fight, but I refuse to say I done something I haven't just to make things quicker. im just waiting for a date to go and speak to a barrister, Im just looking for advice to settle my mind a little in the mean time. thankx

[joko]

the doctors will be able to tell if she has been glassed -
they will able to verify whether her injuries were caused by glass or a fist.

[hmm22]

oh right great thankyou:)

[joko]

many local businesses have cameras too so have a look at the shops opposite etc and see its there is cctv

if you were in a town centre there is likely a camera nearby - the police will check this i would think

you cannot really do anything about the boyfriend as you 'thinking' he wasn't there isn't fact - he might have been - and even if he wasn't you cannot prove it

could someone have filmed it on their camera phones?

[hmm22]

its hard to explain but it was in a small door way, and there was a small building covering kind of thing, I don't think, I know the boyfriend wasn't there, and they said there was no cctv where it happened but maybe there may be inside the pub which may have him on camera at the time it actually happened, no, no videos of it, it lasted the matter of about 10secs id say then we got split up and that was it I could go back to the area to see if there was any cameras around though, its worth a try thankx

[EDDIE51]

The bad news is that this could easily take a year or more to go to court for a full trial. You just need to hang on in there.