15-year-old accused of Domestic Assault – Case Dropped

Case study summary

Our client was a teenager who had been accused of assaulting his sister in the family home. He had been struggling with ADHD and needed support for this. We persuaded the police that this should be dealt with in the family and they agreed to drop the case.

Case study

Our client was a young man who struggled with ADHD. He was part of a large and supportive family. Unfortunately, he had a verbal argument with his sister, which had become heated. His sister alleged that he had elbowed her.

His family had called the police, hoping that they would be able to calm the situation down. It should have been obvious that this case could clearly be resolved by taking one of the siblings to stay with another family member while the situation calmed down. Instead, the police escalated the situation by arresting our client and taking him to the police station.

Our specialist criminal lawyers then attended the police station to represent him. It was clear that the police did not have enough evidence to charge our client. The police had managed to take statements from family members but the statements were heavily contradictory and unreliable. His mother did not want this to go to court and she was very worried that a criminal conviction might harm our client’s future education and job opportunities.

We assessed the situation and advised that our client said no comment in the police interview. The police’s evidence was weak and any comment he made could have strengthened the case against him. We then negotiated with the police, who agreed to drop the case that day.

Our client was able to return to the family home and has avoided a criminal record. He and his family will contain to get support for his ADHD.