Man Receives Community Resolution After Facing A Charge Of common Assault 2024

Our client had been accused of assaulting the manager of a store, following a confrontation. The complainant was supportive of a continuance to prosecution. The client instructed us on a private basis, in the aim of finding a resolution quickly and avoid court.

The police initially arrested our client following the incident in question, and it appeared likely that a prosecution was going to be pursued. The evidence was also strong, with there being multiple witnesses to the incident. Our client instructed us on an enhanced private basis to submit written resolutions to the police, to ascertain whether the incident could be dealt with by way of a community resolution. A community resolution is a method for dealing with low-level offences, without having to turn to formal criminal justice punishments; a community resolution does not appear on a standard DBS check or on an individual’s criminal record. Typically, for a community resolution to be provided by the police, a defendant will have to admit the offence they have been charged with and apologise to the victim, which our client was hesitant to do. However, due to our advice in relation to the strength of the evidence, our client accepted that a community resolution would be the best solution. To start the process, we held an initial conference with the client, in order to take a detailed account of the incident, and so that we could understand any contextual information which may be relevant to our written representations. The main thrust of our argument centred upon the mental health status of our client, who had been sectioned twice over the last year, and was also taking medication to help mitigate the impact of psychosis and paranoid disorder. Essentially, our client required mental health treatment, and not a lengthy and traumatic prosecution process. Following some back and forth dialogue with our client, we submitted our written representations to the police. We are delighted to announce that our client has been granted a community resolution, meaning he can now pursue his career interests and obtain the mental health treatment which he requires and deserves.