Client Admits Assaulting His Partner - Avoids Prison

Case study summary

Our client pleaded guilty to assaulting his partner and damaging her phone. The prosecution argued that a prison sentence was a real possibility, but one of our specialist assault solicitors persuaded the magistrates that this should not be the case.

Case study

Our client was a 21-year-old who pleaded guilty to three charges of assault and one charge of criminal damage. The complainant was his partner who had returned home from shopping with their 9-month-old daughter when an argument began.

The argument escalated and our client took his partner's phone from her. He saw that she had been communicating with a male colleague and reacted by throwing a ceramic wax burner against the wall in anger. The wax burner shattered, and a piece of ceramic cut the complainant's toe.

The complainant then attempted to retrieve her phone, but our client threw it to the floor and punched her in the face. The shock of this caused the complainant to fall to the floor and she says that our client then threw a washing maiden at her.

Our client admitted the allegations and explained that his father had recently passed away unexpectedly. He had turned to alcohol to cope and, on the day of this incident, had been drinking alcohol alone at home. Although he accepts that it was no excuse for his actions, he attributed his poor mental health and binge drinking to his behaviour during this incident.

During a hearing at the Magistrates' Court, the prosecution argued that he should be given a prison sentence. However, our specialist assault solicitors disagreed and argued that a community order would be more appropriate. Our client was young, had a stable job and had recently started a family. He had two cautions from his youth but had not been in trouble since.

The magistrates agreed with our submissions and did not send our client to prison. Instead, they imposed a community order with an unpaid work requirement and a rehabilitation activity requirement which would address his alcohol misuse.

Our client was extremely relieved to be receiving help to overcome his father's death and looked forward to repairing the relationship with his daughter's mother.