Pleaded Guilty And Charged With Malicious Wounding With Intent But Didn't Intend To Hurt Anyone

[kelsmarie]

My partner has been charged with malicious wounding with intent to cause GBH and due to appear in crown court in a couple of weeks.
Basically what happened was my daughter(16) was being harrassed by a 26 year old man who was also sending her indicent images and messages, he also tried running her and her friend off the road and chased them in his car. My partner hit hi over the head with an axe handle and he had to go to hospital for treatment but was released the same night from hospital. He was also taking selfies of himself in the ambulance and hospital and posted them on social media with threats at the bottom to saying sick night don't worry i'm coming and thanks for the free drugs on the bottom. My partner handed himself into police and pleaded guilty but he didn't actually intend to harm anyone. He has no previous convictions and has never harmed anyone, hes normally the one to diffuse situations. When he appears in court again will he still be charged with the same offence as at the time he was charged in magistartes court there was no evidence of anything that led up to this happening as police hadn't been to speak to myself or y daughter at the time we had to wait 8 days for police to come and see us. I'm worried now hes pleaded guilty and been charged with this offence that it will remain and we wont be able to put anything in his defence.

[EDDIE51]

Yes the magistrates court was just to send the case up to Crown .
All cases start out at magistrates courts. If they are more serious than the magistrates court can deal with they are 'refered up' to Crown .
Here are the sentencing guidelines , you need page 3.
https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Assault_definitive_guideline_-_Crown_Court.pdf

[EDDIE51]

Make sure he has a solicitor as the offence you describe is GBH Section 18. That means it is ALWAYS a prison sentence.
A solicitor MAY just MAY be able to negotiate a plea bargain , this means he gets sentenced to a lower offence , possibly ABH ,in return for a guilty plea. IF it can be arranged your partner might be able to stay out of jail. But ONLY a solicitor can arrange it.

[EDDIE51]

He will still get the chance to put in a defence , it is called mitigation. Remember also, that there is a compulsory 1/3rd reduction in the sentence in return for his guilty plea.

[Zacs-Master]

As long as the guilty plea is made in a timely manor.

[kelsmarie]

Thank you for your replies. We are just arranging a solicitor he has to put in writing that he wants the solicitor we have to take over from the one who represented him in magistrates court.

[EDDIE51]

^ zacs he handed himself in and immediately pleaded guilty ,so you can't get more 'timely' than that .

[EDDIE51]

The solicitor would be different anyway ,only a Barrister can represent you in Crown court. Solicitors can only represent you at magistrates court.

[New Judge]

"He will still get the chance to put in a defence , it is called mitigation."

Beware Eddie, the two are not the same. If you defend a matter you plead Not Guilty and (usually) put forward a different version of events to that presented by the prosecution. It's then left to the court (jury or the Magistrates) to decide whether you are guilty or not. When you present mitigation you accept the allegation (and so plead guilty) but put forward reasons why the offence was committed in an effort to reduce its seriousness.

Anyway, back to the question, as Eddie rightly points out, GBH with intent is a serious offence which always carries a custodial sentence - sometimes a lengthy one. It is the most serious offence of assault there is and the only was an assault can be more serious is if someone is killed. Your partner's solicitor is the best person to put your questions to.

[goodgoalie]

Solicitor advocates can also represent clients in a Crown Court:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solicitor_advocate

https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/features/solicitor-advocates-raising-the-bar/5043336.article

[New Judge]

Indeed. And they can also go on to become judges as well.

[bednobs]

i dont understand how he didnt mean to cause harm - what did he think hitting someone over the head with an axe would do?

[Guilbert53]

As poster above says, two rather contradictory statements.

>My partner hit him over the head with an axe handle
>My partner didn't actually intend to harm anyone

Surely he would have been better letting the police deal with it, too late now of course but hitting someone over the head is hardly going to sort things out is it.

[kelsmarie]

HE didn’t intentionally set out to hurt someone it was a moment of madness. The guy he hit was a big bloke and would have had a group of people with him. He picked it up to protect himself. He wouldn’t intentionally hurt anyone

[EDDIE51]

The question has to be asked ''why was your partner carrying an axe handle?'' It is not the sort of thing someone normally carries on a night out! A court is going to look at that as going equipped with a weapon.

[EDDIE51]

^ or are you saying the axe handle just happened to be there in easy reach? That sounds a bit too 'convenient' to me. I would expect a court to take a similar view.