I do not understand the legal system
 

I have kept quiet about this till today.

A few months ago my younger brother was attacked by 4 blokes, as they tried to push him down a flight of steps, the one who was holding onto my brothers neck fell first and my brother landed on top of him.

As a result of the fall the guy suffered a broken neck. My brother had over 20 identified injuries, he was body mapped by a nurse in the custody suite.

Despite the investigating officer saying that it looks like the wrong person was arrested he was today charged with GBH.

Statements have been taken from witnesses that say he was the one who was attacked, however, his attackers say he deliberately pushed the guy down the steps and fell on top as a result of the guy grabbing onto him to prevent his fall.

So they are now saying he used excessive violence to defend himself and it is the courts who will decide whether or not it was proportional.

I don't understand it, 4 onto 1 and it is only the 1 who is charged with anything. A 48 year old company director, if he is convicted and goes down over 20 people will loose their jobs as his business folds.

Re: I do not understand the legal system
 

legal system sucks Tim, we all know that. Hopefully the judge will see sense and apportion blame where its due.

Re: I do not understand the legal system
 

Judges don't get to do that, juries do.

Hopefully they will see what happened.

Re: I do not understand the legal system
 

lol, you knew i knew what i meant, and so did you.

Eh?

Re: I do not understand the legal system
 

I think there are always various versions of what actually happened and the truth is only ever known by those involved. Even then their versions will differ, simply because two persons involved in the same incident may have different perspectives over what they understood to be happening. The same is true of witnesses. CCTV is often a great help but even then it can't tell you what was in people's mind, and the mens rea is what will settle this. Why was your brother attacked? What was the level of violence offered? What were your brothers options, taking into account his size, skill level, intoxication and numerous other factors? Did your brother have any influence over the eventual trip down the stairs?
Unfortunately trials are sometimes the only way all these things can be looked into, even more regrettably the truth will be the first victim of any proceedings. I hope he's got a good barrister.

Re: I do not understand the legal system
 

Mens Rea & Actus Reus. Were there any independent witnesses to the assault? Any CCTV? Obviously the CPS have been consulted on this and authorised charge. Does your brother have any previous for violence? From your summary Tim, it sounds like there is some level of injustice here, however as I always say, there are always 2 sides to every story. Thats not to say that I dont believe what you've been told but if you weren't there at the time, you only have your brothers account to call upon.

Hopefully the jury will be able to see the truth during the trial and give their verdict accordingly. If he is the innocent party in all of this, I wish him the very best of luck.

Re: I do not understand the legal system
 

It doesn't help that if the CPS don't get the full/proper story they won't make the correct decision, for example in my case due to the PC who got the speed limit wrong what would have been *just* a wheelie turned into speeding *and* a wheelie and because of that went from being a driving course to being up in court. In the end it was all fine but a lot of grief in the mean time.

Fingers crossed for you but its going to be a lot of grief. :-(

Druid

Re: I do not understand the legal system
 

The legal system in the UK is total ball-oaks and really pe's me off.
My uncle was murdered on Boton Road Swinton you might of herd about this was around 8 years ago now .
He had been drinking in the Newmarket pub came out and got into a fight with two other men.
They beat him up and left him on the floor then came back and carried on kicking him in.
The postmortem report claimed that the first punch burst an artery in his neck and he died within seconds.
Any punches and kicks after this was not accounted for and my mum told me when she went to see the body that you could barley recognize him he was beaten that bad.

Anyway long story cut short in court the two men was done for manslaughter not murder and both received 12 months imprisonment.
The case after this was a man that had abused his dogs and the man received a 2 year sentence.
Where is the justice in that ? my Uncle,a dad of 4 and only 34 years old taken away from us and his killers get a few months in prison,

Then a junkie that beats his dogs up gets a 2 year sentence .

its a joke anit it .

Re: I do not understand the legal system
 

Look on the bright side, when your brothers brief gets the judge laughing his head off at the prosecutor and kicks the case out then he can have a good old complain at everyone, for such an obvious wrongdoing there must be someone you can sue.

Bit underhand, but with some luck it will make life unpleasant for whichever tosser authorised the case going to court.

Any charges going the other way?

Re: I do not understand the legal system
 

i have zero belief in the police, armed forces or government.

Simply put the police are a **** take on what they use to be. They don't bother with people speeding unless they know they can get them banned, dont' bother pulling cars over unless a computer flashes telling them too and are so programmed it's stupid hense why your brother is up for something which it sounds likes he didn't do.

Get a good lawyer and charge the bill back to the idiots.