re - malicious wounding/gbh with intent

[nurseryt-31]

Hi All,
wanted to post an update - defendant has been charged with two offences;
1) Wounding/causing grevious bodily harm with intent
2) Unlawful wounding/inflicting grevious bodily harm
From reading information given on here and links I gather that the first charge is s18 and the second is the lesser s20.
He has appeared at a preliminary hearing at magistrates and one at crown court, but hasn't been asked for plea yet - apparently this will happen at the next hearing on 19th december (at crown court) It seems likely that he will plead not guilty as the police say that during questioning he insisted that he never hit oh with the brick although two witnesses saw this. Oh's flesh was on the brick and this has been confirmed by dna testing but unfortuately they couldn't detect attacker's dna on the brick (police said they didn't really expect to as sweat on a porous object like a brick is v hard to detect, also somebody at the police station forgot to freeze the brick!) When confronted with the evidence he said that oh must have 'fallen onto the brick!'
I wonder why he is being charged with two offences, I suspect it is to encourage him to plead guilty to the lesser charge?
Any advice appreciated x


(had posted this on end of my first question but thought I would be more likely to get answers to new q, hope this is ok)

Also, does anyone know if local papers automatically cover cases such as this, or do they need to be asked? (I would like everyone to know the facts after the case)

Thanks in advance xx

[Bathsheba]

Thanks for the update, nurseryt! Does this relate to a post you made in August? x

[nurseryt-31]

Hi Bathsheba, yes this relates to the post I made in August 'malicious wounding/gbh with intent' - don't know how to post a link unfortunately - we are on one hand eager for the whole thing to be over, and dreading court, as the offence was in June, but also determined to see attacker brought to justice, and although it might sound strange, I am particularly keen that the details should be printed after the case as people do spread different versions of events eg. it was a fight, when it blatantly wasn't. Does anyone know answer to q about papers? x

[Bathsheba]

I'm sure someone will be more clued up than me about the press, but i think local reporters routinely attend court cases, although to be certain it gets coverage you could always contact your local neswpaper a couple of days beforehand and mention it to them.
Good luck! xxx