Charged with abh on my wife

[jono1234]

I have been charged with abh against my wife. It was self defense and there was a lot of alcohol taken by both?

She has never made a statement and when I was interviewed i made no comment. The police took some photos of disturbance in the house and there was a small amount of blood on the floor from a minor scrape on my wifes nose. My wife drunkenly ran to a neighbours who rang the police and he made a brief statement to the police of what my wife told him. I was arrested and charged with ABH section 47. Will it go to trial without any statement ever made by my wife.

this was a one off after 20 years of marriage. I have cuts to my legs where i was kicked and a cut and bruises where i was punched. Please answer it from a trial point of view not a personal point of view as there has been 20 years of good marriage

[HowardKennitby]

As far as I know the CPS can prosecute these cases without a complaint. If you have injuries I would suggest you get them photographed and documented.

[venator]

I'm not an expert - you need New Judge - but if your wife will attest to what you say, I'd have thought the Crown Prosecution Service wouldn't take this to Court.

[EDDIE51]

There is a policy now of prosecuting domestic violence even if none of the people involved are prepared to make a statement. The prosecution can proceed just on the evidence that was found, In this case the photos and the blood on the floor . Photos /descriptions of your and your wifes injuries can be used as evidence and the statement from the neighbour.
ABH S 47 is not a serious offence I think it is magistrates court only , it is almost impossible for it to be a prison sentence . Remember you get an automatic reduction of 1/3rd in the sentence for an early guilty plea. As you did actually cause harm, I think that IF and only IF this goes to court a guilty plea is your only viable option. You will almost certainly get a small fine or very low community service order possibly suspended may be even just a conditional discharge.

[EDDIE51]

Here are the sentencing guidelines for S47 , sorry, looks like I was too lenient , max penalty is 5 years .
http://www.cps.gov.uk...g_actual_bodily_harm/
You need to get a solicitor ASAP !