News1 min ago
Boyfriend Charged With Abh
8 Answers
My boyfriend was charges with abh against me , he went to prison for about 2 weeks and got realeased on bail till court to not to contact me ect.. however he got arrested in my house his also on a 2 year suspended sentence for something else what got given about 7 months ago, what's going to be the outcome likely ???
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The court has to decide whether the offence falls into Category 1, Category 2 or Category 3, based upon considerations of both 'harm' and 'culpability'. Once the correct category has been established, a 'starting point' and 'range' for sentencing is then laid down for that offence. See page 178 here:
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Given that the offence was 'domestic' in nature, it's unlikely that the offence will be viewed as 'Category 3', so it will therefore be in at least 'Category 2', for which the 'starting point' sentence (from which the court can work up or down) is 6 months imprisonment.
Further, given that a 2-year suspended sentence will have come from a Crown court, rather than from a magistrates' court, sentencing for the ABH offence would normally be passed up to the Crown court, in order that the court can also decide whether to activate the suspended sentence. If the offence which resulted in the suspended sentence being passed was for violence, then there's quite a high chance that at least some part of that sentence being activated.
We haven't got all of the details available to us that the court will know about but, based upon around half a century of reading court reports (and having done a bit of court reporting myself), I'd guess that 'on a good day' your b/f might get sentenced to 6 months imprisonment for the ABH offence (reduced to 4 months if he pleads guilty at the earliest opportunity) without the suspended sentence being activated. 'On a bad day' he could see the 2-year sentence being activated (but with the sentence for the ABH offence running concurrently to it).
So, given that the actual time spent 'banged up' is half of the nominal sentence, I reckon that your b/f could be 'out of circulation' for anywhere between 2 and 12 months.
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Given that the offence was 'domestic' in nature, it's unlikely that the offence will be viewed as 'Category 3', so it will therefore be in at least 'Category 2', for which the 'starting point' sentence (from which the court can work up or down) is 6 months imprisonment.
Further, given that a 2-year suspended sentence will have come from a Crown court, rather than from a magistrates' court, sentencing for the ABH offence would normally be passed up to the Crown court, in order that the court can also decide whether to activate the suspended sentence. If the offence which resulted in the suspended sentence being passed was for violence, then there's quite a high chance that at least some part of that sentence being activated.
We haven't got all of the details available to us that the court will know about but, based upon around half a century of reading court reports (and having done a bit of court reporting myself), I'd guess that 'on a good day' your b/f might get sentenced to 6 months imprisonment for the ABH offence (reduced to 4 months if he pleads guilty at the earliest opportunity) without the suspended sentence being activated. 'On a bad day' he could see the 2-year sentence being activated (but with the sentence for the ABH offence running concurrently to it).
So, given that the actual time spent 'banged up' is half of the nominal sentence, I reckon that your b/f could be 'out of circulation' for anywhere between 2 and 12 months.
The nature of the offence which attracted the suspended sentence is not relevant. When trying to keep their clients out of prison defence lawyers often put forward the fact that the latest offence was of a different nature but it makes no difference. When the suspended sentence was handed down he would have been told that the commission of any offence during the period of suspension will see the sentence activated. Magistrates and judges have guidance which recommends that the suspended sentence should always be activated unless it is in the interests of justice not to do so or there are other factors which mean its activation should not take place.
It should have been decided by now where his trial is to take place (in the Magistrates' Court or the Crown Court). With things as they are at present it may be a while before his matter comes to trial, although cases where defendants are in custody (because of custody time limits) and domestic matters receive priority.
It should have been decided by now where his trial is to take place (in the Magistrates' Court or the Crown Court). With things as they are at present it may be a while before his matter comes to trial, although cases where defendants are in custody (because of custody time limits) and domestic matters receive priority.
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