Client Charged with Assaulting Girlfriend - Not Guilty

Case study summary

Our client was a carer who was accused of assault and criminal damage. He denied the allegations. At trial, we provided evidence to support our client's account and highlighted the weaknesses in the complainant's version of events which resulted in a Not Guilty verdict.

Case study

Our client was a Romanian national who had travelled to the U.K. to qualify as a nurse and had obtained a job as the home manager of a care home. In May 2022, his girlfriend accused him of assault and criminal damage. She stated that he had punched her in the nose and deliberately damaged her phone. Our client denied the allegations and asked us to represent him at his trial. If he was found guilty then he would lose his job which he had worked hard to achieve.

We discussed the case with our client and he explained that he met his former girlfriend at work in the summer of 2021. They developed a romantic relationship and she moved into his home at the beginning of 2022. However, after a few months, their relationship deteriorated. Our client states that his girlfriend became possessive, jealous and would often accuse him of cheating.

Prior to May 2022, our client and his girlfriend had decided to end their relationship but our client agreed to allow her to stay at his house until she found alternative accommodation. Despite this, she refused to pay our client rent or contribute towards the grocery bills. One evening, she returned home from work and our client said that she must contribute towards the bills otherwise she would have to leave. She responded by laughing at our client and began to video him. Our client asked her to delete the video but she clenched her phone tightly, punched him, and ran upstairs.

Our client followed his former partner upstairs where she accused him of damaging her phone. She then proceeded to damage one of his watches. As our client tried to prevent this, there was a struggle. Our client states that he may have accidentally knocked his former partner's nose with his elbow during the struggle but he did not intentionally cause her any harm.

We reviewed the weaknesses in the complainant's version of events and obtained evidence to support our client's account. We also obtained evidence to support his good character because he was someone who had never been in trouble with the police before. We then instructed a barrister with expertise in assault cases to represent our client at his trial.

At the trial, our barrister was able to draw out many inconsistencies within the complainant's evidence. In contrast, our client provided clear and consistent evidence which resulted in him being found Not Guilty. Our client was relieved and looked forward to returning back to work.