GBH section 20 with 1 witness

[Mike25]

2 years ago some guy was hit and he fell and banged his head, he had bleeding on the brain and spent 3 nights in hospital. I was called in for question 4 months later which I denied even being in the area, the guys friend said I was the one that done it and he claims he knows me which is untrue, he gave a witness statement 4 months after the incident. He gave a good description of me which isn't hard cause I'm on facebook. Other witness statements claim they don't know who through the strike. Only 1 person said it was me, now the CPS are taking me to court based on 1 statement.
The incided happened at 2.30am in the morning, so the witness may have been drunk plus it was 2 years ago. Is 1 witness enough to find me guilty? There was no CCTV or anything else.

[sandyRoe]

Do you have an alibi? Why would someone say it was you if it wasn't?

[Mike25]

SandyRoe, I don't have an alibi because I can't remember where I was 2 years ago on a saturday night, should i make one up? The guy is saying its me for two possible reasons, 1. He believes its me but is mistaken, 2. He is being told to say its me because thats what he was heard from hearsay information. I have looked at the guy on facebook and have never seen him before in my life although on his witness statement he claims to know he to talk too!!

[Mike25]

The preliminary hearing is in March at a Magistrate court. Can the case be thrown out at the preliminary hearing? Will the case stay in the Magistrate court? I heard the Magistrate court can only give a maximum of 6 months sentence, so I am thinking of damage limitation now if found guilty!!
I have a solicitor but haven't spoke to her yet as she's busy and hasn't read my summons. Any thoughts on this would be great help as I can't get it out of my head.

[murraymints]

surely this is out of time by now ...check with solicitor...Scottish law bit different...

[Mike25]

Didn't realise there was a time limit on things like this...?

[murraymints]

in Scotland...but then we are more civilised....

[Mike25]

lol, i would assume the law would be similar murrymints!

[optics2b]

No time limit on this offence im afraid.

[optics2b]

Mike

If you are saying this is a case of mistaken identity then you would of (should of) been asked by police for your consent to take part in formal identification procedures which is mandatory in investigations where identity is disputed (there are certain exceptions).

Also, can you confirm whether you were arrested for this offence?.

optics

[optics2b]

Also, for a person to be charged or summonsed for a criminal offence then there has to be sufficient admissible evidence for a prosecution to likely succeed in a conviction, although the police do abuse this for detection figures.

[Mike25]

Thanks to you guys taking an interest, I am going to answer all the questions below;

How many witnesses were there?
2 in total, 1 claims he never seen the guy before and couldn't identify him again if he seen him, the other says it was me. The Victim can't remember anything!

You say it is easy to give a description of you as you are on face book?
I am saying that the guy thinks it was me (from hearsay) and got an accurate description from facebook. He also says he knows me form the local disco and says hello to me on a monthly basics, this is a lie, I haven't been to that disco in 8 years! The victim and the witness are best friends as they have photos on facebook drinking and partying. His witness statement doesn't state say if he had been drinking or not, does this matter? Incident happened at 2.50am!

Then you say you denied being in the area in the 1st post but in a reply you say you can not remember where you were as it was 2 years ago. If you can not remember where you were how can you deny that you were there?
I can't remember where I was but the area is somewhere I never go and I would of remembered striking someone if I would have been there.

Where did the offence take place?
A street known for crime in a town.

Is it somewhere that you do sometimes go or did you deny being there as it is a place you have never been to?
I am never around that area.

To defend yourself against this you really do need to think hard and remember where you were on the date in question. Is there anyone , a friend or relative, who you could have been with and may help you remember?
No, its hard for people to remember where they were 6 months ago let alone 2 years! More than likely I was in bed as I rarely go out. When the police called me in for a statement it was July the incident happened in March, they put me on the spot but I couldn't remember where I was.

10:18 Thu 10th Feb 2011

[Mike25]

I will answer this one again.
Is it somewhere that you do sometimes go or did you deny being there as it is a place you have never been to?
I have been to that area before but not in the last 6 years. I would also like to note that i have been fined for being drunk and disorderly 6 years ago but it would have been 4 years after the incident. Will this be used against me?

[optics2b]

Well were you asked to take part in ID procedures??????????

[Mike25]

No, i was asked to take part in any ID procedures. I doubt its serious enough for that, from my summons it says the guy was struck once not beating to death. Also to answer your other question I was not arrested by the police. Does this mean the police thought there was no evidence?

[Mike25]

Sorry, i meant No, i was not asked to take part in any ID procedures

[Stefan42]

Mike - "I doubt its serious enough for that, from my summons it says the guy was struck once not beating to death."

This is exactly how I took my case, I didn't bother taking it seriously as I thought the case would be thrown out of court. Next thing I knew I was on the witness stand answering questions I hadn't been prepaired for and ended up with an ABH conviction.

Get on the phone ASAP to your solicitor, and make sure you have a good one. As far as I am aware, if your convicted GBH can carry up to 7 years imprisonment maximum (not sure if section 20 is the same).

If I was to give you any advice it would be to start taking this very, very seriously, don't make the same mistake I did!

[Mike25]

I seen my solicitor today and she told me that worst case senerio if I am found guilty then it will be a suspended sentence but there is a good chance it won't reach that far as the evidence against me is minimum.
Apparently in N.Ireland if someone is assulted and someone is found guilty of the crime then the assulted person will get a large claim against the state (money is driving these guys to lie).

[Blue83]

Alright pal...my bro went through a similar thing. He was in a pub were a local idiot was drunk and looking for trouble and got filled in and one of the barmaids for reasons I will never understand said my bro kicked this guy in the face. We went through 9 months of hell over this, magistrates, ID parades, police knocking around at my parents accusing him of intimidating the witness, 3 day trial in crown court...the works!!! However, we all knew he didn't do it and the jury cleared him in according to our solicitor a "record time" of 30mins. The thing was a joke and must have costs thousands of £££'s...so I would try not worry because if you are adamant you are innocent the jury should see this. One of the most distressing aspects of my bro's case was the POLICE...particuarly the detective in charge who made my bro's and my parents life hell. Knocking around every other week accusing him of things, not turning up for the ID parade as arranged and then knocking at the house saying my bro is breaking his bail conditons!!! The whole thing was a disgrace and I now have ZERO RESPECT for the police. Justice prevailed however and the detective got made to look very silly by our solicitor in court. All I can say is good luck and hopefully if you are telling the truth you will be cleared.