Gbh With Intent, What Is The Likely Outcome?

[cidal]

me and 3 other friends have been charged with gbh with intent. we are all 1st time offenders, have jobs and attend university. One a night out an argument started with 2 other blokes. CCTV has caught us running across the road which ended up in a fight in which one of the blokes ended up with a fractured cheekbone. we has also been charged with common assault. On the CCTV i am clearly shown, and i do not touch the person who has the suspected broken jaw. Does this matter? or is everyone liable to the same punishment because we were in a group. is it possible my GBH with intent charged could be dropped since i actually did'nt touch him? and you can see this through the cctv

[Buenchico]

While there are calls for the law on 'joint enterprise' to be changed, as things stand if you're part of a group where a person suffers injury through the actions of that group, then you're all guilty of the assault.

A broken jaw is at the lower end of the type of injuries that fall within GBH, so a judge would almost certainly rate 'harm' as 'low' when considering sentence. Having a 'subordinate role in a group or gang' means that 'culpability' would probably also be rated as 'low' too, so that makes it a 'Category 3' offence. Even so, the absolute minimum sentence that a judge can pass (other than in really exceptional circumstances, such as a terminally ill offender) is one of 3 years imprisonment after a trial or 2 years imprisonment with an early 'guilty' plea.

So your legal representatives need to fight hard to try to get the Section 18 charge against you dropped but they might struggle to do so. If they can't, you're definitely going to prison.

This is the actual document that judges must refer to. See pages 3 to 7:
http://sentencingcouncil.judiciary.gov.uk/docs/Assault_definitive_guideline_-_Crown_Court.pdf

[EDDIE51]

I hope there is a chance this can be lowered to GBH without intent if you plead guilty. You will have to ask your lawyer about it.
GBH with intent S18 is a very serious offence and is always a prison sentence as you have been told.
The only room for hope is that it is normal for the police to charge the most serious offense possible and if there is not enough evidence drop the charge to a less serious one. They do it that way because they can not start with a lower charge and then raise it to a more serious one.
I hope you have a solicitor as you are going to need one.

[Peter Pedant]

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you need to get lawyered up. - If the CCTV shows you running across the road, then you can hardly say you were caught up in it as an innocent bystander....in which case you need a professional to plead your case ( = money ). I think you must do this as you are in danger of getting chucked out of uni as well.

If any of you are a med student for example, the GMC may well stop you/him from qualifying ever.

broken jaw - broken cheekbone... blimey a few minutes madness .....

[ummmm]

You people always talk about it 'always' being a prison sentence. Its not true. It might be in the guidelines but in reality it doesn't happen.

I know people that have got off with very serious assaults with just community service.

[cidal]

Another question, would everyone in the group get the same sentence or are people judged individually? (According to thier role)

[Peter Pedant]

I am certain they are judge individually according to their perceived role ( team leader, egger on, holder of the baseball bat etc )

[EDDIE51]

ummmm a 'very serious assault' may well be GBH WITHOUT INTENT S20.
GBH WITH INTENT S18 is a lot more serious and is always a prison sentence.
It is not the seriousness of the injury that determines if it is a S20 or a S18 it is whether there was a specific intent to cause the injury or the injury was the result of a momentary loss of temper or the injury was a lot more serious due to other circumstances.
For example, a person pushes another person backwards during an argument. Normally that would be common assault ,but if the pushed person fell over a cliff or fell and fractured their skull on a rock the push could be GBH S20 but it could NOT be GBH S18 as S18 requires proof of intent to cause serious injury.
This case is a fight that started one side of the road and cidal is accused of across the road to continue the fight on the other side of the road , that would show intent to cause injury so S18 has been charged.