abh

[adam davies]

i have just been charged with 2 accounts of abh against my wife. there were no serious injuries and my wife wishes to drop the charge against me. she has formally retracted her statement.i have never been in trouble with the police before. what can i expect in court tomorrow ?

[New Judge]

If you have not yet entered your plea you will be asked to do so. Presumably you will plead Not Guilty. (If you plead Guilty you will be convicted without your wife's evidence).

If you plead Not Guilty and your wife is the only or the principle witness it is likely that the CPS will offer no evidence and you will be formally acquitted.

[pauln90]

Not necessarily. It took many years of lobbying to make the police and the courts aware of the true scale of domestic violence and its effects. Indeed a survey several years ago suggested that on average a wife/partner waited until the 47th assault before making a complaint

The CPS will often continue a prosecution even without the wife's backing,because too many complainants were trying to drop cases through fear of reprisal.

[NORMANTHEDOG]

yes,lets hope they proceed and put you away.

[New Judge]

Unfortunately, though, Norman, there is the tiresome matter of proving the issue by the presentation of evidence. Whilst the Government launched its new Domestic Violence policy (which presumably pauln90 is referring to) under a great fanfare, the practicalities of complying with the law were somewhat overlooked.

Without compelling supporting evidence is unlikely that a conviction will be secured without the testimony of the victim.

[tubeway]

So you come on to this site and admit to being a wife beater. How low can a man get to start hitting ANY woman - especially one you are supposed to love.

I hope you do get put away - but it probably wont happen. I hope that when/if it happens again - your wife has the courage to press charges this time and you get what you deserve.

[kempie]

http://www.cps.gov.uk/publications/prosecution /domestic/index.html

[bubblegal]

well i think the police could take it upon thereselfs to charge you for it .... my friends mum was involved in the same thing and her boyfriend beat her up and he had no previous .. she dropped the charges but he ended up gettin sentenced to 12month