Man Not Guilty Domestic Violence Allegation Willesden Magistrates Court 2024

We secured a not-guilty verdict for our clients in an alleged domestic violence case. Our client had been accused of assaulting his girlfriend despite his girlfriend denying this and not supporting a prosecution. Neither the complainant nor the eyewitness attended court to give evidence. The eyewitness initially stated to the police that she had witnessed an assault.

The prosecution attempted to use the comments that the alleged victim made to the police when they eventually attended her address on the day of the alleged assault against our client.  The police recorded her making allegations against our client.  Usually, a witness must attend court to give their evidence.  A statement made by a person to the police cannot usually be used in court as evidence to show the truth of the things stated in the statement.  This is the rule against hearsay. In this case, the prosecution attempted to use an exception to the rule against hearsay, the res gestae rule, to get her comments at the scene as evidence in the alleged victim's absence. This tactic is being used more and more by the prosecution.  Our solicitor opposed this application because it was not in the interests of justice to allow this or adjourn the case, and it was successful. The trial, therefore, had no choice but to offer no evidence, and our client was hence found not guilty.