Good news. Glad they got caught and convicted
My thoughts exactly!
Giving evidence in crown court
- Thread starter Sawell
- Start date
My thoughts exactly!
Yep, very common trick. Even if they can't get the case thrown out they can get it adjourned, meaning more time for people to forget stuff, more chance of people not showing up next time, etc.
M
Reading, fool, can you do it?
when he finds out hinting at keeping the thread up dated 
:dCheers guys, it's a great feeling to have it all over and done with! Especially with such a result.
Basically they had a 'basis' guilty, which means that they plea guilty but they get to be creative with what happened. Which is kinda tedious, as it means that the statement that goes through to sentencing isn't that we were attacked unprovoked and that my friend was repeatedly kicked when he was down etc (which negates any claim of self defence anyway) . They'll get a statement which is something like there was a scuffle and they took it too far, which also means they only get x1 ABH each, rather than x2/x1.
We had a choice on this, i.e. we could accept it and avoid the long court process or we could refuse the conditions and force it to go through to court. The upside of that would have meant that the punishment would have been harder had they been found guilty, the downside being that you have to get a jury on side with what seemed to be minimal material evidence. By the looks of it there was no CCTV and no pictures of my friends arms after he used them to stop one of the guys kicking him in the face on the floor. It was a weigh up decision for both of us (we deliberately didn't get a chance to discuss it with each other) but both chose to accept the conditions.
Net result is they'll both likely get unpaid work and a fine, as it's also their first abh offence (so my council told me). But as MrMoon said, they'll both have that on their records and hopefully it will make them think twice in future. I think one of them was in the army too, so I don't know if that has a negative affect on his career or not (I know they don't think too highly of it?).
Basically they had a 'basis' guilty, which means that they plea guilty but they get to be creative with what happened. Which is kinda tedious, as it means that the statement that goes through to sentencing isn't that we were attacked unprovoked and that my friend was repeatedly kicked when he was down etc (which negates any claim of self defence anyway) . They'll get a statement which is something like there was a scuffle and they took it too far, which also means they only get x1 ABH each, rather than x2/x1.
We had a choice on this, i.e. we could accept it and avoid the long court process or we could refuse the conditions and force it to go through to court. The upside of that would have meant that the punishment would have been harder had they been found guilty, the downside being that you have to get a jury on side with what seemed to be minimal material evidence. By the looks of it there was no CCTV and no pictures of my friends arms after he used them to stop one of the guys kicking him in the face on the floor. It was a weigh up decision for both of us (we deliberately didn't get a chance to discuss it with each other) but both chose to accept the conditions.
Net result is they'll both likely get unpaid work and a fine, as it's also their first abh offence (so my council told me). But as MrMoon said, they'll both have that on their records and hopefully it will make them think twice in future. I think one of them was in the army too, so I don't know if that has a negative affect on his career or not (I know they don't think too highly of it?).
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Associate
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- 28 Jan 2010
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I was supposed to be giving evidence in crown court last month but the bugger pleaded guilty!! Was so unimpressed as the only reason he did was because it was obvious he was going to be found guilty and wanted a shorter sentence!!!!!!!
Yeah, it wastes a lot of time. Although I think that's their intention. Not to mention the money it wastes, I dare think how much a case costs on average.
So basically a slap on the wrist ... gotta love the Judicial system in this country.
Should get 3 months jail time tbh
Man of Honour
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Great news and well done on seeing it through.
To an extent it's my fault for not pushing it past the basis plea, but when you have to weigh up them getting a sentence against them potentially having two good defence barristers and a flaky jury resulting in a not guilty verdict, I opted for the sentence. Sentencing will now have a judgement which is the basis plea, a scuffle that got out of hand. It's hard to imagine jail time for that. But it's something, I don't know, do you think I should have pushed it? It's a bit of a gamble.
Scuffle that got out of had?
You really see it like that?
I'm not sure how 4 people randomly attacking you is a "scuffle that got out of hand", I don't generally go around and start scuffles with random people (in fact, I have never thrown the first punch in any sort of scuffle)
You really see it like that?
I'm not sure how 4 people randomly attacking you is a "scuffle that got out of hand", I don't generally go around and start scuffles with random people (in fact, I have never thrown the first punch in any sort of scuffle)