charged today with GBH section 18

[kelzberna]

charged today with GBH section 18 after being on bail for over 2 months. The whole story is..... My partner was looking to clean he's car on our shared driveway with our neighbours but the neighbour didn't like this and got very aggressive toward my partner. Words were exchanged and our neighbour went to attack my partner. In defense my partner used reasonable force to defend himself, in the process our neighbour feel and split he's head open, it wasn't a bad cut only 4 stitches were needed. Once this happened all our neighbours came rushing over so my partner protected himself with a metal pole, which witnesses are now saying he used to hit our neighbour (which is false as no one was at the attack at the time). Since the incident I've had no support from police, they have still not taken my statement, I've been watched constantly by our neighbours and my son has been followed all was reported to police but nothing was done. I'm really worried now as I'm not sure what a section 18 carries I've heard it can mean life imprisonment! Is it self defense if its on our property? As well as this the neighbour put in he's statement to police that my partner offered him a fight and the neighbour went back in he's home, put shoes on and came back out to my partner. So he was looking to have a violent adjudication with my partner.

[bednobs]

i think your partner may have trouble proving he used the minimum force possible when he went and got a metal bar. he could have gone inside and called the police or got in the car and drove off i suppose. Not really sure what you're asking but my advice is get a solicitor

[tenrec]

4 stitches - I'm glad it wasn't me he hit!

[kelzberna]

he has a solicitor he's at court Friday to give he's plea which is not guilty. We have had a lot of problems with our neighbours in regards to racial harassment. My partner has never been in trouble with the law, he's a hard working family man.
A lot of factors are going in favour the fact the guy was on our property, the size of him (my partner is a small 5ft 6 the neighbour is 6ft 5 and 18 stone) as well as the fact the guy came out of he's house after supposedly being asked for a fight which never was said.

[bednobs]

well you need to be asking the solicitor about either reducing the charge or what the penalty could be

[kelzberna]

the stitches were from where he fell on the floor...because he was so fat and heavy he hit the ground harder. Tbh if he was hit with a metal pole over he's head with force he would have more then 4 stitches. They took the pole but no evidence of hair or blood etc was present on it. To add to this the police assaulted my partner which I filmed and sent to police complaints. This is why I think they are not helping us

[kelzberna]

our eleven year old son was present at the time too

[craft1948]

You haven't got a poorly dog have you?

[Buenchico]

The injuries you describe aren't sufficient to sustain a 'Section 18' (GBH with intent) charge. You've described 'ABH'. Take a look here:
http://www.cps.gov.uk...s_against_the_person/
(See paragraph 46 for the definition of 'ABH', paragraph 55 for the definition of 'wounding/GBH' and paragraph 65 for the factors adding 'with intent).

To use 'self defence' as a valid defence in law, the accused person must show that he could not simply flee from the other person, and that he could not have prevented an assault upon himself by using less force than he actually did. The location of the incident is completely irrelevant.

The sentencing guidelines for ABH, GBH and GBH with intent can be viewed here:
http://sentencingcoun...ine_-_Crown_Court.pdf

Chris

[kelzberna]

SSorry but this is a genuine post
It's not a wind up

Buenchico I thought the same as 4 years ago I was on a abh charge and the victim had a cut to he's jaw from the sword I attacked him with.
My partner didn't intentionally hurt the guy so how can police do him for a section 18.
He is at court Friday hopefully they will change it to maybe a section 20 or 47 which is what I was on.

It was my 1st offense and I was pregnant at the time of ky trial.

[northernmonkey]

your neigbours sound like a bunch of jobless nosey jump on the bandwagon muppets who will have no effect on the court case should it come to the stage which would be a trial in crown court as he's going to plea not guilty. As they would of said in the statement made to police they didn't witness nothing except the aftermath following the fall. tell ur neighbours to flump off and use a car wash next time.

[kelzberna]

NNorthenmonkey......that's a nice way of putting it. The neighbours even called police when my partners brother was here thinkin it was him. Six have given witness statements and only four people were present at the time....me,my partner, our knocked out neighbour and our neighbour who lives opposite us. We live in quite a racist part of Essex,UK and all so called witnesses were there calling my partner a black bastard.....which was the reason he picked up the pole.

[jake-the-peg]

Now there's a conflict coming out here

You started by saying he used reasonable force to defend himself

then you said he defended himself with a metal pole

Now you're saying he picked up the pole because he was racially insulted


You need to get this clear in you head racial abuse is a crime but it doesn't entitle someone to pick up a metal pole as a weapon.

Tip: for self defense to hold up he needs to have been in realsonable fear for his safety.

If the size of the guy is accurate and he was being that aggressive towars hm that could well be the case.

It doesn't look as if he could have fled being at home and with familly.

Your problem could lie in the question was there not something he could have done to resolve the issue when the guy came over aggressively - I hope your partner didn't respond aggressively back - that would make it difficult.

Hopefully he tried to reason calmly with him but the guy just became more and more aggressive until your partner became afraid for your and his safety

[kelzberna]

Sorry for confusion what I meant was my partner did punch the guy and knocked him out after the guy threw a punch at my partner. He only picked up the pole coz around 11 people turned up and a few were being quite racist so he picked up the pole to defend himself. Sorry I didn't make that clear. The pole wasn't used against the guy who attacked my partner but witnesses are sayin he did these witnesses only came after my partner knocked the guy out. Also the guy was in our garden. But in police statements it says my partner was in he's garden....which is a lie as they took pictures of him laid out in our garden.

[factor-fiction]

I know it's too late now but one tip for the future is to just walk away from situations like this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjFzUVCQ1vM

[factor-fiction]

I'm getting confused now.
Initially: "only four people were present at the time...."
Now: " He only picked up the pole coz around 11 people turned up and a few were being quite racist so he picked up the pole to defend himself."

[kelzberna]

NNo at the time of attack only 4 people were present....myself,my partner,our neighbour and our son. Once the guy was knocked out then more people came that's when he got the pole to defend himself.

[kelzberna]

ffavtor30 its hard to walk away if your backed into a corner with a guy twice your size trying to rain down blows on you. It's either knock out or be knocked out. And my partner would've been hurt more due to the size of him and the situation he wad in

[bednobs]

you really have to get your story straight for the solicitor in your post you say you partner attacked because the neighbour "went" to attack your partner, and now you say he was raining down blows. TBH you give a (necessarily) one sided view of the situation, because you want to paint your partner in the best light (it's only natural) but no-one can give you much idea on here about his chances etc when they only have your side of the story (whereas in court, they will have both sides of course) Your best bet is to use the solicitor (that's what she is getting paid for) to either try to reduce the charge or help you work out the best defence

[kelzberna]

well Friday he's gotta go plea so we gonna see if they can lessen the charge to maybe a section 47 plus we are willing to have some sort of mediation between us and our neighbours as we both own our propertys and we have to live next to each other. Thanks though x