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Can I appeal sentence ?

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maryval | 02:45 Thu 09th Apr 2009 | Law
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My husband was found guilty of two counts of ABH.
After his last two assaults on myself resulted in my being hospitalised.

There had been a long history of domestic abuse but for various reasons I did not involve the Police for years.
( he was arrested and cautioned once before but I did not press charges)

After a wait of a few weeks since being found guilty in a magistrates court ( his option) , sentence was finally pronounced today.

Effectively he was given five months for EACH case of ABH, BUT has been told he will serve just one lot of five months in prison and 'IF' he re offends in the future THEN he will serve the other five months ?

As far as I am concerned if he has been found guilty of TWO counts of ABH, and it is considered serious enough to merit five months for EACH count , then WHY is he only serving half the sentence,the other half only to be served should he re offend ? Surely if he were to re offend then just give him another new sentence ( and more than five months ?) He should serve the sentences given now ?

I find this rediculous, it is like an offer at Tesco's , beat you wife up twice, and get the second one for free ! I was walking on sticks and had a broken nose for goodness sake !

Why defer half of the given sentence and only give it to him IF he is a very naughty boy again ? He has already had second chances ! He did not defer his fists ! It took years of attacks to even get to this point. Can I appeal ? as I do not feel this is justice,for me or the damage to my four children. SIngle mothers who have not paid their TV license fees have got longer in jail, I was abused for 14 years ! It seems to me that the victim gets less choice and less consideration all round in the legal system, it is wrong.
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After your late night maryval, perhaps you�d like a bit of extra legal info which might help you understand what happened.

As you probably know, ABH is what is known as an �either way� offence � that is, it can be dealt with either in the magistrates� court or at the Crown Court. The choice of venue initially rests with the magistrates. They will consider the facts and decide whether their powers are sufficient. Only if they accept jurisdiction does the defendant then have the choice to either a magistrates� court trial or a Crown Court trial. So although it seems your husband dictated the choice of venue in fact he did not. He had the right to have the matter heard in the magistrates� court only because they agreed. If they had decided it needed to go to the Crown Court, your husband would have had no say in the matter.

I must say that from your description of events and looking at the magistrates� sentencing guidelines I cannot see why the matter was not sent to the Crown Court, or why half of the sentence was suspended. (Magistrates do have the power to impose two consecutive sentences of up to six months each when sentencing for two or more either way offences). But the sentence is as it is and that�s that.

You personally cannot appeal against this sentence. The CPS can do so on the grounds that it was �unduly lenient�. They rarely do this, and when they do it is usually for more serious matters where long terms of imprisonment are expected. I cannot find any recent instances where they have done so as a result of a sentence handed down by magistrates. Of course further prosecution for the same offences is not possible.

Also bear in mind that your husband will only serve a maximum of half of the five months, and probably less than that.
Question Author
Thank you 'New Judge' .
I understand what you tell me is the procedure.
BUT I feel like Spock on the bridge of the Enterprise saying "But this is not logical Captain ?"

You say you can't see why this was not a Crown Court case ? neither could I, I thought it should be GBH, I was told the Police thought they'd more chance of conviction if it was ABH ?

To give half a sentence is wrong,
And then to dilute it further to just a few weeks ?


I have been kicked, punched, head butted, bitten and threatened with carving knives. i have been thrown through French windows onto concrete and thought I would die.

My husband drummed into me that if I reported him the children would be taken away.
He also told me that as he was such a nice chap no one would believe me.

I lost my mother 26 years ago, my father was frail for years following a stroke, this was another reason I didn't report him before, I thought if my father knew the stress could kill him.

I only made my first call to the police when I was beaten up and had a piece bitten out of my face just 48 hours after my father died.I 'd sat an 8 day vigil watching dad die I did not have the strength to press charges, he was cautioned.

On his return he held me by my ears, spat in my face and warned me that if I ever did that to him again, he would make it worth his while and I'd never walk again. I wrote of this in my impact statement and other vile things,
my children also witnessed this.

Once I wandered for six hours in the dark & rain along a bypass contemplating suicide, I stared into the oncoming traffic for hours.

I do feel as if I've had no say, I asked for the trial to go to a specialist domestic court and was told that was not possible ?
I feel like a worthless victim all over again.
Perhaps I should just lie down and
sounds like he's gone through your whole relationship getting freebies so why should he have to pay for it now
Question Author
I am not sure what that answer means danchip ?
-- answer removed --
Question Author
Thankyou wizzard 66.
I have no intention of having any relationship with another man. I just want to be with my four children.
I could never trust myself or them with another man in my home. I do not want to be in a vunerable position ever again.

I know there are good men. and two of my children are boys and the loveliest, most gentle children you could meet.

But I am no longer young and I no longer believe in romantic love. I have lost my friends over this too as people do not want to be involved.

I am happy now to just concentrate on my children I will pour my love into them.

I do feel as though I have been kicked in the teeth by both my husband and the legal system which I had hoped would pass a just sentence, now it hasn't I feel very angry and let down.

I am not sure what danchip meant ?
It sounded flippant though and I will just treat it with disdain.
-- answer removed --
Question Author
Thanyou wizzard 66.
I have never even been on a site like this before, I was just hoping for some answers ?
I fully reailise I have been weak and a fool.
One of the things that hurt me most was my husband saying 'No comment" when questioned after his arrest.
It was not a multiple choice question ? he had put me in hospital. So I realised then I wasn't even worth his admitting what he had done, even when it was obvious.
He has never said sorry.

I don't know how anyone in prison would even know what crimes he is guilty of ? he is pleasant enough to most people and I think he will convince everyone he's a nice chap ? If he does not admit what he has done how would they know ? he is also very good at ingratiating himself with people, so I think he will survive the few weeks that this sentence will end up being commuted to.

My late mother used to say that what we put out in life will come back to us .

I would like too say she was right but I have seen bad people prosper and good people suffer all their loves and die young, so I draw little comfort from it, but I am trying to think positive and I am just perhaps feeling at a low ebb today having learnt of his sentence ?

Thanks for your good wishes and I wish you well in all you do too Wizzard !
I just wanted to say, what a brave lady you are and may God give you all the happiness and strenth in the world. Your children are very lucky to have you as a mother.

As for your husband he deserves everything he gets, no man should ever raise his hand EVER...

My grandmother was badly beaten by my grandfather and after years of hell she stood up to him, you know what he did? killed himself.
He should of killed himself earlier because my Grandmother unfortunatly is bedded with too many health problems thanks to him...
My father growing up with this violence then started doing the same to my mother, braverly my mother ran away with all of us (her kids) untill my father found her and apologised and took us home, he never layed a finger on her as far as I know, but because of the violence she experience she then took that out on me and my brothers and sister...
Violence is a vicious circle and if you can get out of that circle may God bless you always...

The best of luck...
Question Author
Thankyou SUdbf.

You are right violence can perpetuate itself and the damage from one generation be passed on to the next.
That was one of the deciding factors in at last seeing this through, what was I teaching my children ? this should not be acceptable, my son just twelve sat in hospital with me while I was patched up. It was then when the consultant asked for permission to call the Police I said yes.
Ii had called them myself once before and not seen the process through. This time I have but it took nine months.

At least your father did eventually faced with the shock of losing his family change, unfortunately your poor mum was already damaged.

You can see it is wrong and you have survived, I guess all we can do is try to make a difference to what we can change ? All the best and easter blessings !
Hi again maryval:

You said "I have lost my friends over this"

You're better off without "friends" such as those. It's only at such extreme times that you would find out the true meaning of the word.
If any of them DID stick by you, cherish them, those are your REAL friends.

Good luck.
he deserves to be in prison, he deserved to be in prison the first time he did it but you cant allow someone to abuse you and then comlpain about the sentence they have got
-- answer removed --
Question Author
Hi danchip

I don't know how old you are or what sort of relationships you have had. But your view is very simplistic.

Twenty or more years ago I had come across articles about a woman called Erin Pizzey ( look her up) and I too thought how can these women get in this situation ? I could not have imagined it would be me more than twenty years down the line.

People have a set idea of who a wife beater is ?

They are not only knuckle dragging caveman, They can be charming.likeable chaps.

They can be from any background, even Judges have been arrested for domestic abuse !

It doesn't start immediately it happens gradually.

I lie awake going back over it all.

Over years the situation changes, you may have lost your independence and you feel responsible even for their outbursts, I loved my husband still and forgave him. b
Now after years it is like a fog clearing and I can see things more clearly.

I should have stood up to him before I know that.

I am not even saying he should be tried for all the other unrecorded assaults .
No, but just concentrating on the two that he was tried for, and found guilty of this sentence is not enough.

If you were put in hospital twice by someone you worked with or someone off the street you would expect justice wouldn't you, that is all I am saying, this thread started only as I wanted to know if I could appeal ?

The answer is depressing..

Apparently he can appeal .
BUT I cannot ???

Try not to be so simplistic, you don't know how your life will pan out ?
It may not be this kind of mess, but in twenty years you may be in another sort of mess ?

Remember one in four women will expirience domestic abuse, that is the same as cancer or heart desease, but people talk more openly about those.
(2-part post):

Hi Maryval,

Your question seems to have been generally answered by others but, since some people have mentioned my name (and I contributed to your original thread), I'll throw a few points in.

Firstly, nobody can ever be sentenced for an offence which they've not been convicted of. Your husband could only be sentenced for the 2 counts of ABH, not for anything else which might have occurred during the previous 14 years. When passing sentence, the magistrates were obliged to ignore any allegations (relating to previous violence) which you might have made (directly or indirectly) in your victim impact statement.

Secondly, one of the reasons that some offences are designated as 'either way' is that it reduces the burden on the Crown courts by allowing lower level offences to be dealt with 'summarily'. In deciding whether or not to decline jurisdiction (which would have seen the case passed to the Crown court) the magistrates could only consider the specific allegations against your husband. There were not a vast number of charges, and those charges did not relate to an offence against a child or vulnerable adult (as defined by law). Further, they presumably didn't relate to injuries 'close to GBH'. Under those circumstances, the magistrates seem to have acted perfectly reasonably in keeping the case before the magistrates' court.
The magistrates will have looked at the total length of the sentence which they believe they should pass. They have come to the conclusion that 5 months is appropriate. They could, of course, have passed two consecutive sentences of 2� months each but, under such circumstances, magistrates usually pass two concurrent sentences of 5 months. (That has the advantage of ensuring that the convicted person will still serve the same sentence even if he gets one conviction quashed, due to a technicality, upon appeal).

In your particular case the magistrates seem to have displayed a certain amount of ingenuity. They've passed the same total 5 month sentence that they normally would but, by making the second sentence 'consecutive but suspended' they've considerably extended the time after release when your husband will have to 'keep his nose clean' if he wants to avoid being returned to prison.

Lastly, it used to be impossible for anyone to appeal against a sentence on the grounds that it was too lenient. The rules changed in 1988 so that the Attorney General (alone) is now empowered to challenge lenient sentences. He only does so in exceptional circumstances, which don't seem to apply to your husband's sentencing.

Chris
Question Author
Hi Chris

Thanks for taking the time to go into the reasoning behind the sentence for me.

I can see what you are saying but it is still not right.

I was not expecting the previous 14 years to be taken into consideration, although I was asked to write a victim impact statement and some of it was relevent.

But for two assaults that resulted in my being in hospital,
five months whichever way you cut it is not a just sentence
because as you have already pointed out it actually is not even five months, it will be half that or less ?

From my point of view he has gotten off very lightly indeed.

I believe in America he would be looking at five years ?

What message is this sending out, causing a woman to walk on sticks and give her a broken nose is worth just a few weeks inside ? And I am only talking of the offences he was found guilty of.

If I had known that nine months ago I doubt I would have put myself and the children through it all ?

How are victims meant to heal when it seems they are worth so little ?

Question Author

Thanks everyone for your input in helping to answer my question and the encouraging remarks too.

After a few days to reflect I have decided that it is still not right that my husband is 'given' a ten months sentence and will only actually serve eight weeks ?

That is a nonsense...or am I the only one that can see this ?

The people who could change things that work within the system know that it is, but just seem resigned to it ?

The attitude is almost one of I am 'lucky' that he has got a sentence at all, as domestic abuse offenders usually get community service ?

Well just because it saves money and the penal system has too many bodies in it already, is not a good enough reason.

In America he would be looking at five or more years !

So I am going to make an appointment to see my MP next week !

I figure nothing changes unless you take action ?
Hi Maryval,

just wondered how you got on with your MP and if you've made any decisions as to what you're going to do about your ex now you've had some time to reflect?

I was thinking also, (I know this is going to sound cliched), have you thought about having some councelling? It's just that you've got a tremendous amount of trauma in your recent past and it might really help you to talk to someone who's an expert?

Anyway, post soon and let us know if you're making any progress!

xx
Question Author
Hi Beaniesq
This is a posting in two parts !

Thanks for popping by to ask how I am doing ? kind of you to do so.

I would like to tell you that I feel a lot better by now, but in truth I don't really. I still feel angry and sad about it all.

I know that life isn't fair and I will have to draw a line under it all at some point but I it is still too early for that I think ?

I have sent an email via the woman who I was designated to at Witness Care, asking for her to pass my comments on to The Crown Court Prosecution Service and I am awaiting a reply from someone senior there ?

In addition I am asking for either a transcript or something official on paper regarding my husbands sentence ? As I have never had any kind of paperwork or official written notification regarding his sentence ?

I was told via email, and verbally on the phone about it by the Witness Care lady. Who was very nice and agreed that the sentencing was a bit bonkers.

I sent an email of my reaction to the sentence along with the notifying email that I had received originally from witness care also to the Domestic Violence Unit for the attention of the arresting officer there, who had collated the evidence etc, asking for their views ? but I have heard nothing in reply ?

Once I have heard back from the CCPS about the transcript and whether or not there is paperwork to offer my MP on the sentence ? then I will make an appointment to see my MP .

If not, then I will still try to see him anyway with the paper work that I do have on the case.

Yes I have considered counseling ? not having family or these days even friends around me to talk to, it may be an idea just to be able to verbalise in a safe environment my feelings as a way of simply releasing them ?

There is a service called Outreach who you are given the number of when the

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