My partner has been in custody since april 9th this year, charged with section 18 wounding with intend. he pleaded not guilty and was given a trial hearing of 2 days back on the 3rd and 4th september. on the first day at the opening in court his barrister asked for the charge to be dropped to section 47 abh, as no wounding evidence was avaliable. the judge agreed and the trial did not proceed. he is in for sentencing this week and i was wondering what the outcome would be... he has 3 previous violent charges on his record, and the probation report has made 3 suggestions they are 1: custodial 2: suspended sentence with a course 3: no further sentence and courses. however she did say that the charge carries 5 yrs max sentence, also on previous occasions my partner did not attended courses he was supposed to when he came out..... HELP.
helpmetoo ; with all due respect i was asking for an idea of sentencing...... he is not a nasty horrible person his last 3 convictions for voilence were all 13 yrs ago... everyone has a right to turn a leaf and make a fresh start. and on this occasion he was breaking up a fight which started outside a pub and he got involved trying to help and because of his previous record 13 yrs ago he has taken the brunt of the punishment.... so any idea of the sentencing he might get ?
I am inclined to side with helpmetoo on this issue.
Despite allegedly turning over a leaf, your partner is very much prone to still becoming involved whenever there might be a brawl - although it does not directly concern him.
Regarding possible sentence: Maybe a fortnight's holiday on a sunshine isle, with full expenses paid. Followed, on return, by a lucrative job as a course tutor to 'real' offenders.
he hasn't turned over a new leaf though as he is back in court, I hope they throw away the key and all the boys in prison have their wicked way with him xxx
Hiya, thanks all for your feed back, just to clear up some queries raised.. he pleaded guilty to the section 47.. as that was what the barrister advised him to do.... his previous started 13yrs ago with a section 20 then he has had 2 section 47s also the last one being about 4 yrs ago...
There are aggravating features such as previous for the same offence and the fact he has failed to complete courses in the past might make the judge dismiss this as an option. The PSR recommendations will be taken into account and, with an experienced barrister mitigating, if there are exceptional circumstances the judge may listen favorably to requests for a suspended sentence. Otherwise it may well be a custodial sentence, perhaps 18 months � 2yrs of which he will serve half in custody and half on license - less any time spent on remand. You can see what sentences people convicted of Assault occasioning actual bodily harm comes - Offences against the Person Act 1861 s.47 - http://www.thelawpages.com.