sentance for ABH

[holiday1960]

my son has just been sentanced 8months custody first offence in full time work there was cctv evidence of his victim starting trouble and pushing him into a wall and being verbal (racial abuse) my son punched him rendering him unconcious and in anger or fear went to kick but didnt as his brother stopped him. he has been honest from day one and shown empathy for the victim he was advised to offer no plea at magistrates and recieved an excellant report from probation advising community service however he was sentanced to 8 months custody is this unusual

[doglady]

It's not unusual at all. The Court can do what the Court want, within the sentencing guidelines. If your son knocked the victim unconscious, he could potentially have caused a serious brain injury or even killed him.

[paraffin]

Hi holiday:

Your son must have injured the victim in some way. And for him to get 8 months custodial for a first offence, I can only assume that he caused the victim a relatively serious injury, otherwise he may have escaped with a lesser sentence.

[holiday1960]

severe bruising to his face nothing broken

[holiday1960]

no the barrister advised not as he could get longer

[paraffin]

holiday:

On the strength of what you've described it seems that your son has been harshly dealt with.

[New Judge]

Before we go any further, how did your son receive:

(a) a sentence of eight months from the magistrates when their maximum is six months and

(b) any sentence at all without entering a plea?

[New Judge]

Or..

Did he enter no plea at the magistrates court, and the magistrates committed the matter to the Crown Court where he was sentenced?

(This is important because, if they did, the facts of the case must have indicated to them that the offence warranted more than their maximum).

[holiday1960]

new judge yes he was sentenced in crown court the advice from his solicitor was he would more than lickly recieve custody if he went guilty in magestrates ahd so do a no plea as in the crown it would be seen as a low level offence, we took this advice as we are not a family who have been on the wrong side of the law quite the opposite we work with young offenders and i have seen many getting off lightly i cant understand why this has happened even though it was clear that the man for no reason other than race this man aggresivly cornered my son what would the court be happy with another murdered black boy

[New Judge]

There are a few things I don�t understand.

You have not said whether your son faced a trial, or if he pleaded guilty. You cannot do a �no plea� at the Crown Court. If you refuse to enter a plea there, a not guilty plea is entered on your behalf and you face a trial.

You can withhold your plea in the magistrates� court and the magistrates then decide whether to accept jurisdiction or whether to commit the matter to the Crown Court.
They obviously thought that the matter was serious enough for committal and the judge agreed (hence the sentence).

ABH is a serious offence (maximum 5 years, 7 years if racially aggravated) and not one that is charged readily without due consideration by the CPS.

[holiday1960]

hi new judge first of all my son pleaded guilty right from the start however on his second appearance to magistrates he entered a no plea on advice he then attended his hearing entering guilty at crown the judge accepted mitigating surcumstances ie. my sons victim as shown on cctv without reason forced my son into a wall in the corner aggresivly and was being verbaly aggresive due to it being in a street there was no audio evidence my son from his very first statement was clear that the man was being racialy abusive the judge accepted that this would be accepted and accepted thet my son hit him once and that the cps were saying my son also kicked once however there is no ctv evidence that the kick impacted as it clearly shows his brother stopped him my son could not be sentanced that day as pre sentance report had not been done due to busy probation when he returned for sentancing the new judge was not interested in the mitigating surcome stances and was dismissive of th reason my son felt threatened enough to behave in this manner as i have said probation gave excellant report lad of excellant character from a good family has worked since leaving school but knowing he would loose his job the judge has not chosen to make him give back to the community instead he has chosen to burden the tax payer with another young man unemployed is this british justice or is this another example of institutionalised racism?