to think that a £125 fine for punching your girlfriend in the face is a joke?

[RosyAuroch]

Last year DH and I witnessed (kind of) some guy threaten to kill his girlfriend before chasing her down the street and punching her in the face.

We heard him try to kick her down in. and shout “I’m going to fucking kill you”, so we called the police (whilst we got dressed, we were in bed). Whilst we were waiting (they took about 15 minutes to arrive0, he then chased her down the street and punched her in the face according to another witness.

The police later told us that her 2 yo daughter was in the house (I think that’s why she ran out, to try and draw him away from the house/her daughter).

Twice we went to court to be witnesses, because this kind of thing is just wrong. First time it was postponed, second time (this week) he pleaded guilty and got a £125 fine. WTAF?

Isn’t what he did a bit more serious than a £125 fine? Even if you’re on benefits and £125 os a fortune, surely this is a custodial sentence, not a fine.

Also, both times we were the only witnesses to turn up.

In related news, last night our downstairs neighbour had a fight with his girlfriend at 1.30am. I heard shouting, went to the window in the spare room at the front to find the source, realised it was downstairs not outside. Could hear what was being shouted (“You fucking manipulative little cow” over and over) then loud bangs/thuds and a scream. I was still up so I stuck on some shoes, ran downstairs and banged on the door til I got an answer.

She came to the door, upset but unhurt. I asked her if she was safe and ok. She said she was, just he was very upset, had had too much to drink and she was trying to understand why he was so upset. I said “As long as you are ok?” and she said she was and thanked me. So I went back upstairs, sat in our spare room above their bedroom where the shouting was coming from, and after about 30 seconds of still raised voices it went back down to conversational level. Stayed there for about half an hour so I was sure it has calmed down

So I’m pretty convinced I did that because I now have no faith in the police or judicial system to deal with these things. A) If anything bad was happening they wouldn’t get there fast enough to stop it B) I really believed her that she was ok- I would have bundled her upstairs into our flat if I had any doubts about it.

Today I am pretty tired and shaky. I’m also thinking through whether I did the right thing. I know if I had banged on the door three times and gotten no answer I would have been back upstairs and calling the police. She answered after the second time I knocked practically hammered it down.

If it was another witness who did not attend court who saw the punch, and the victim herself did not turn up, the prosecutor will probably have decided that he was unable to prove the punch and will have taken a plea of guilty to the bits of the charge that he actually had witnesses available to prove. From what you say that would probably be a breach of the peace of some sort, most likely what is called a section 38 in Scotland. That probably explains the fairly moderate financial penalty.

krasnayaplats Yup, that did occur to me that he was fined for breach of the peace, and that this was the best course of action due to other witnesses not turning up. Good to hear a rational explanation of what could have happened.

I did think though, given the stern warning of dire consequences on the citation about being a witness and not turning up, that more would have been done to ensure witnesses did turn up the second time? For example, we did not receive a second citation until we telephoned to chase it twice. We only knew the second date because the man at the court house told us it when we were dismissed the first time. So how a witness who didn't turn up to the first court date was supposed to know I have no idea.

So I can well believe that other witnesses received no second citation, or indeed no citations at all. One of those situations where all the decisions made at individual links in the chain make sense, but the system as whole is disconnected and dysfunctional.

Andrewofgg Totally agree. Be best aiming high in the ideal world!

MrsWolowitz I think that emergency services being within five minutes reach for life threatening situations is a pretty reasonable aim for a civilised society.