charged with assault

[mooney1111]

hi there guys,
i have been charged with assault, by striking someone with a piece of wood, what baiscally happend was, me and my gf where attacked by a gang of youths, i suffred concussion and my gf had a badly burst eye, so immediately after i was attacked i picked up a piece of wood to protect myself, then out of nowhere this man jumped out of his garden screaming and shouting comming towards me, and i assumed he was part of the gang that just attacked me, so i hit him, is this self defense ??, and what sentence do you think i will get, i dont think i have prevoius convitons maybe some when i was 16 for theft and breach fo the piece but i have not been in any trouble with the law for 8 yrs, so what do you think i will be senteced to ??

[dannydingbat]

Until the evidence from all sides has been heard and any mitigation and argument submitted, who knows?

[MrBen5]

If you have a good solicitor and your working, you will probably get away with a fine or at the worst, a suspended sentence. Like Danny says, depending on the circumstances and witnesses, who knows?

[jake-the-peg]

Rather depends on a number of circumstances.

When you say immediately after you picked up a piece of wood - are we talking about in the following moments or hours later?

Who was this guy you hit and why did he come out screaming at you? Did you hit him once or numerous times?

You have the right to defend yourself if you reasonably believe yourself to be in danger - you don't have the right to go about with a lump of 2 by 4 because you got mugged last week. Similarly whilst you can hit somebody in self defense you don't have the right to beat someone to a pulp after you've disabled him.

If this is immediately after you were mugged and you've got a hospital or doctor on record as saying you had concussion then your mental capacity at the time might very well have been reduced which could be a strong mitigating factor.

Further there are questions like what you said to the police, did you tell them that you had had a head injury before they spoke to you - this might affect whether or not anything you said to them could be used against you.

This does seem quite complicated and could depend a lot on small details.

I'd stongly advise you to get professional help on this because this could look either very reasonable behaviour or like a vicious assault depending on how it's presented.

[mooney1111]

when i say immediatley, i mean like 5 mins at most after we had been attacked, i have no idea why the man came out screaming and shouting, i hit hime once, and it was the doctor who said i had concussion, and also the person who i hit, does not remeber anything at all, maybe because he is an alcoholic, the reason iam on here askng these questins that i suffer from very high levels of anixety and panic attacks, and its very hard getting through each day without think i will be sent to jail.

[mooney1111]

just to add when i picked up the piece of wood the gang where still in the street, and i could only hear my gf screaming, and i told the police me and my gf where asssaulted, but the did not arest me they came and charge me a week later, me and my gf where due to go to court as witnesses, for the asault on my gf, but the case was dropped for some reason, so the assault that took place on me and my gf, is on record.

[sponsmith]

You should be ok if what you say is true.
You should get a fine/community service at worst...All the prisons are full anyway!

[jake-the-peg]

I'm not a lawyer but I'd say that under those circumstance you had a very real reason to fear for your safety and that your actions and that provided you used reasonable force ( that is you only hit him once and didn't start kicking him on the ground or something silly) you've got a good case of self defense.

Again I'd say professional advice could make all the difference here, it's not a simple open and shut case and if you stand up and start blurting things out you could easily say something that makes what you did look totally different.

It's not the fine you want to be worried about after 8 yesr you really don't want to get lumberred with a conviction for a violent offense. People don't look at the circumstances, they look at the conviction.

Spending money now to avoid a conviction for assault is a good investment over getting turned down for jobs because you've got a violent criminal record.

[mooney1111]

thanks for the feedback, i seen mu lawyer and he told me to plead not guilty and says i have a good case and he says he cant see me geting any jail time.