ABH dropped Acton Police Station 2023

ABH dropped Acton Police Station 2023

We represented a client at Acton Police Station who had been interviewed for Actual Bodily Harm (ABH) against his wife. It was alleged that he had punched his wife in the face causing a bruise. The officer in charge of the case provided no witness statements details or a statement from the complainant to support the allegation. Disclosure also suggested that there was CCTV footage of the alleged assault, however this was not provided prior to the interview.

For our client to be found guilty of Actual Bodily Harm S47 of the Offences Against the Persons Act 1861 – The police/prosecution must prove -

The offence is committed when a person intentionally or recklessly assaults another, thereby causing Actual Bodily Harm. It must be proved that the assault (which includes “battery”) “occasioned” or caused the bodily harm. Bodily harm has its ordinary meaning and includes any hurt calculated to interfere with the health or comfort of the victim: such hurt need not be permanent but must be more than transient and trifling: (R v Donovan [1934] 2 KB 498).

It was established that our client did get into a physical altercation with his wife but denied an unlawful assault. He did not accept punching her in the face. The legal representative was mindful that despite there potentially being CCTV of the incident, it was highly unlikely that it had been obtained due to it not being disclosed.

In addition, with there being no witness statements, it indicated that the complainant’s ex-wife no longer wanted to proceed with the matter. As a result of the above, and our client admitting to there being some form of physical altercation, it was advised that our client exercised his right to silence during interview.  Due to the advice given during consultation, the police had no evidence to proceed with and were unable to prove that our client assaulted his ex-wife.