Client charged with serious assault found Not Guilty

Case study summary

Our client approached our firm after being charged with a serious assault occasioning actual bodily harm. Our expert lawyers carefully drafted his defence, took statements from witnesses and prepared his case for court, where he was ultimately found Not Guilty after a trial.

Case study

This case concerned a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. Our client was accused of assaulting another man, with his friend, while on a night out, by kicking him in the face while he was on the ground.

We were approached by our client to represent him at his trial. Ultimately, this trial would take place almost three years after we were approached.

Our client explained that the man he was accused of assaulting had in fact been the aggressor and had attacked our client's friend, causing a broken nose. It was clear that when our client and his friends were threatened by the aggressor they acted in self-defence.

Our client also detailed the difficulties he was having in dealing with this case and the fear he felt at his good character being undone by a false allegation.

To prepare for this case we carefully drafted our client's defence and guided him through the court process. When it became clear that there were a number of people who could be called on to demonstrate our client's account we contacted them on his behalf and drafted witness statements. We instructed a barrister to represent our client at the crown court and, when the trial concluded, the jury returned an inconclusive verdict.

The prosecution were ordered by the court to consider if they intended to continue, however, they decided to offer no evidence and our client was formally exonerated. This meant that, after almost three years, he was able to move forward with his life and finally come out from the shadow of this unfounded accusation.