Section 20 assault

[robbo30]

My nephew has been charged with a section 20 assault - the charge is that he hit another young man once and the lad has fallen and hit his head - he has had to have 3 stitches in the back of his head and 1 on the front of the face where he was hit. The incident occured after a night out.
My nephew is 22 years old, has a decent job and has never been in trouble before. what is the likely sentence. Any answer will be much appreciated as we are all really worried Thanks

[Rollo]

It depends on how seriously this particular assault is viewed.

You can view the published sentencing guidelines here.

http://www.sentencing-guidelines.gov.uk/docs/a ssault-against-the%20person.pdf

See the table on page 15.

From what you say it appears to come under the heading

"Other assault where no
weapon has been used"

A guilty plea at trial leads to a reduced sentence.

[paraffin]

Hi robbo:

It depends whether he's tried at Magistrates Court (max. sentence 6 months) or at Crown Court (max. sentence 5 years).

[Buenchico]

If you description of the victim's injuries is correct, your son should be seeking (through his solicitor - or barrister if appropriate) to get the charge reduced to ABH. Your description is inconsistent with the type of injuries required for a Section 20 (GBH) charge.

See paragraph 46 of this document for an indication of what constitutes 'ABH'. Then read paragraph to see what constitutes 'GBH':
http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/l_to_o/offences_ag ainst_the_person/#P189_14382

Chris