gbh

[mohammedm]

My partner and his family were attacked by three armed robbers at the family home. They were armed with knives but the men of the family intervened and while two of three robbers got away they managed to get hold of one of them. There was a struggle which went into the street and the robber was injured in this, quite seriously. He was taken to hospital, was in coma few days but has recovered fully without any permanent damage.The police charged three of my partner's family with GBH. A neighbour has decided to be witness against them. none of them have any previous convictions and are all respectable working professionals. What can be the max-min sentence for this, GBH sounds very serious?

[bobs1975]

Have a look here

http://www.sentencing-guidelines.gov.uk/

Can your family members can demonstrate an element of self defence? It must of been one hell of a self defending session for a neighbour to be a witness for an armed robber.

[mohammedm]

Thanks Bob, a number of them attacked and chased the robber down the street hence the witness. But as this attack was provoked and the guy has fully recovered (who was already on bail for numerous crimes), is GBH section 20 more relevant?

[jake-the-peg]

Hmm it's rather difficult to plead self defence when you're chasing somebody down the street!

How do you know the guy was already on bail - was he already known to you?

[Dolly1308]

Armed robbers do not expect householders to react with violence ,they expect you to just do as you're told and hand your valuables over to them when requested to do so ! Life is going to be pretty intolerable for thieves like these if everyone started looking after their property and also defending themselves ,Please be mor e considerate next time and wait till there are no nosy witnesses around !(tongue in cheek for any one who doesn't understand my humour)

[mohammedm]

The police who arrived at the scene of the crime said they know who the guy is and gave these details. Appararently he was on bail was three previous robberies.

Do you know of any other cases where people have been given any custodial sentence for something like this? It just seems crazy!..the good thing is there was no permanent damage at all.

[jake-the-peg]

It's not crazy at all.

They may have started off defending themselves but they ended up chasing them down the street seeking vengence.

I don't know how badly one was beaten but it doesn't sound good.

If incidents like this go unpunshished we'd have lynch mob law with people taking justice into their own hands.

There have been a number of high profile cases - Tony Martin is the most famous who shot an unarmed burglar in the back with an illegal shotgun.

He was convicted of murder but it was reduced to manslaughter on appeal when it came out he had mental health issues.

Not as bad as your case but shows you the seriousness with which such cases are taken.

This is a closer case

http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/news/article-106 6777/Brazilian-student-faces-GBH-charge-defend ing-home-serial-burglar.html

The tabloid love this sort of stuff but the law takes a very different view - this is Britain not the wild west

[fredpuli47]

s20 is for cases where the grievous bodily harm was occasioned without intent to cause it. s18 is for cases where the accused intended to cause grievous bodily harm.If three people set about beating a man , it seems reasonable to infer that they intended that consequence when they embarked upon the enterprise.

Whether a defence of self defence is runnable in this case is a question for the defence lawyers.Without knowing all the evidence it is impossible for us to say. The force used must be reasonable but an accused is not required to 'weigh to a nicety' the precise degree of force necessary to defend himself.In the agony of the moment he can't be expected to make a precise judgment.The law does try to apply common sense!

However, if the evidence is that, the immediate threat being over, these people chased a man down the street and then beat him up, it seems unlikely to be runnable as self defence. It then sounds a case for a good plea in mitigation.The lawyer might try to strike a deal for a s20, arguing that the consequences were more severe than those intended, and what was intended was not 'grievous' not really serious, 'bodily harm'.You never know, the CPS might accept that and take a plea of guilty to the lesser offence.