AIBU to let the police arrest me instead of going to court

[Arren12]

Hi all,

I witnessed a crime take place last year. Someone was injured. That's as much detail as il give.
I was just in the place at the time minding my own business but did see the aftermath and a bit of the actual crime. I was very shaken up at the time so cannot recall exactly what happened as it was fast and scary.

The police took my details. I then felt pressured by the police to give a statement. I told the police at the time I was scared to give one and that id rather not but they asked me to do the right thing so I did.

It has now gone to court and I have been summoned to give evidence face to face. I have contacted cps to inform them that I'm scared to give evidence and that I really feel that my anxiety will prevent me from giving a correct account.

Witness support have offered me no support with this despite me contacting them.

The thing is the perp of the crime knows who I am and it will be obvious its me giving the evidence even if I went behind a curtain because I was literally the only one there. Its not even that the perp will retaliate, though that is a possibility I suppose, its that I see this person I have no choice but to face them regularly, I'm not new to court as I do go through work but I am just so anxious about all this process and saying the wrong thing and the judge grilling me etc..

I feel sick with this. I have explained I also need to be there for my disabled child at the time of the case but they say they will wait for me as its important. They keep basically saying tough you have to turn up.

I haven't slept for ages because of this im so worried. I do have mental health issues and have had breakdowns in the past but I have been well for the last few months and this is sending me over the edge.

I'm honestly thinking of not turning up.

How likely is it that il get arrested?

OP I am so sorry you are going through this. I had a very similar situation to you about 25 years ago, I was only 17 at the time. The police told me if I gave a statement I wouldn't have to go to court and being young and naive I believed them. 2 weeks before critical exams I got a phone call to give me the details of the court date. I had no idea what they were talking about then they told me I would have to go. Unbeknown to me at the time, the defendant and all their friends had made threats against me by putting notes through our letter box that my parents found and hid from me. I was so frightened and my father even offered to send me oversees to an Aunt and take the wrap from the police. It was an absolutely awful time. These particular individuals were considered so dangerous another witness was allowed by the police not to give evidence due to the danger to her and her family ( they said to the CPS she was an unreliable witness). In the end I had to go through with it. It was absolutely awful. They changed the court date until after my exams but that was pointless as my exams were completely ruined. They were convicted and
give custodial sentences but their friends and associates were all in the public gallery and knew exactly who I was. Afterwards, I moved to a town 20 miles away and for at least 10 years didn't go anywhere near the town I lived in. I was too frightened I would bump into them or their associates. They never did retaliate and I have never heard from them since and hopefully never will. I really feel for you and I will never give a statement to the police again after that experience. My understanding is that if you are not certain of your recollections you may want to withdraw your statement. You may well be called to court without a statement but at least you can be vague on stand.

Even though you have to see the person regularly they'll know that you aren't afraid to do what is right, that you won't put up with or accept their criminal behaviour and that you have the strength and courage to give evidence in court. Then let them hang their head in shame and embarrasment should they see you and carry yours high.

@shittyday that sounds absolutely horrible im sorry you went through that

I don't think you're making it up.

There's very few people you have to see.

Oh and I have been through something like this. Involved being kidnapped and held at gunpoint, a robbery, someone being shot.
Certain people showing up at the person who was shot family business.

The perps got sent to prison for 40 years.

Victims moved far away and never had to see them or people involved with the perps ever again.

@RantyAunty

I don't think you're making it up.

There's very few people you have to see.

Oh and I have been through something like this. Involved being kidnapped and held at gunpoint, a robbery, someone being shot.
Certain people showing up at the person who was shot family business.

The perps got sent to prison for 40 years.

Victims moved far away and never had to see them or people involved with the perps ever again.

I feel for the victims - it is so incredibly upsetting to have to move far away from everyone and everything you know and start again. They have done nothing wrong - gone through hell and then that continues for years and years later. Just awful.

I'm sorry you're going through this OP, it must be awful. I second the suggestion of another pp, write to the judge and say that you want to give evidence however you're receiving no support despite having reached out for it. At the end of the day, you do need to give evidence and will be arrested for contempt of court if you don't. You may end up with a criminal record (I'm not sure on that though). I think you need to work on building up the courage to give evidence, I really don't think there is any other way around it. I hope all works out well for you.

I didn’t realise years ago that giving a statement as a witness meant I would be forced to go to court. It’s easy to say do the right thing but when they know who you are and they’re a violent criminal, it’s very intimidating. Fortunately they pleaded guilty a few days before the trial, which was in a city away from home. I was so relieved. If I’m honest, I wouldn’t give a statement again against someone that knew who I was unless it was for something where I knew they’d receive a long custodial sentence.

@Dontstress

This is just not true. It’s what the police think because they think defence lawyers are scum. If a case ends up with a guilty plea on the day, it’s down to the defendant. Defendants string it along. Most don’t want to plead guilty and, shock horror, lots aren’t. The police will never accept this because they are always convinced they’ve got their man, even if they don’t understand the law well enough to know if an offence has been committed. The easiest thing to do as a defence lawyer is agree with your client who wants to plead not guilty. The hardest thing is making them trust you enough to accept they should plead guilty. We advise a guilty plea if they have a defence- even if the police don’t understand what it is!

Having been in the position where the police decided to cherry pick evidence in order to get a conviction based on a false accusation, this is interesting.

The OIC even told me she was determined to get a conviction and this was before she’d done an interview. The police also lied to us to claim they’d had repeated complaints over a long period of time which was later proved to be untrue.

Anyone who thinks that the police don’t lie, manipulate and cherry pick evidence while whitewashing the blatant lies of accusers in order to boost their stats needs to have a bit of a think about what would happen if someone falsely accused them of a crime. If you think it doesn’t happen to normal middle class people then you’d be wrong.

@Arren12 I'm so sorry you've had such a rubbish preparation for the trial. I know our criminal justice unit have been mainly Wfh During the pandemic and I'm sure witnesses haven't been getting the usual service. I used to work as a witness care officer for 8 years so hopefully I can help answer a few questions at least.
Your address won't be disclosed the the defence. All they get is your name and date of birth. The witness contact details on the back of the statement is part of the sensitive material and therefore not disclosable - for obvious reasons. Does the defendant know you by name or just know your face ? If they only know you in passing then a screen would be an excellent option. This is a special measure and in the worst case scenario can be granted on the trial day itself although ideally should be applied for in advance. The witness care officer or OIC applies giving some reasons along the lines of "mrs Bloggs attends the same aerobics class as the defendant and is keen that her face is not seen as she fears further repercussions". Obviously if the defendant knows you by name this is redundant.
In my experience videolinks are only for vulnerable victims and witnesses, not for witnesses who are anxious about being identified so they generally need a much higher threshold. Our justice system is adversarial so the further you get removed from the tradition of being tried face to face by your accusers, the strong the reasons have to be.

Is this crown or magistrates court ? I've had many summons issued however in my experience it's only crown that actually action the summons. This is due to the more serious nature of the offences, the cost of the trial etc. I don't think I've ever seen a non-compliant prosecution witness summoned by magistrates - if a witness doesn't turn up the trial is usually just abandoned if their evidence is critical.

As someone else has pointed out, the defence already have your statement as part of disclosure so if the defendant knows your name they already know you've given evidence.

One final thing - I've looked after thousands of witnesses from shoplifting to rape and murder. The only times we had repercussions were (a) before trial to try to intimidate the witness and (b) we're family/neighbour relationships which were already fraught. I've never had a witness have repercussions after a trial from someone who was a stranger/limited acquaintance. The penalties for witness intimidation (which is counted to 12 months post-proceedings) are severe.

To give a real life example:

Police: complainant alleges you did xyz at x time on x date.
Person: I was at

One final thing - the judge won't ask you questions, those come from the barrister/lawyers. Have you only been to coroner/family court before ? The judges there ask question directly. If so it's worth trying to get a pre trial visit with the relevant witness service as the criminal court is quite different.
You won't get "grilled", especially not by the prosecutor who will be asking you questions first. You are their witness and they want you to give your best evidence, not trick you and trip you up. A good prosecutor wants to leave nothing for the defence lawyer to ask you and should try and anticipate any questions the defence want to ask by getting that information from you themselves.
I've given evidence a few times, quite often the defence don't have any questions for you at all. The judge also won't accept lawyers being adversarial with witnesses as they acknowledge the vital role witnesses play in our justic system and usually don't take kindly to witnesses being harshly questioned unless there is a suggestion they are lying.

agh OP this is so tough. Hoping you can get some support.

I think that this may be a moot point now anyway. The accused has the right to see the evidence against them in advance so their defence will have already had a copy of your statement. Your contact details section is redacted but you’ve said it’s obvious it’s you anyway. I don’t think they’d actually arrest you anyway.

I understand why you're nervous OP. It's not the same but I was a juror and remember coming face to face with one of the defendants afterwards. I worked very close to where they lived and used the same local shops. We'd been there for 10 days in court so they'd seen me a lot. And the trial resulted in their adult child being sent to prison so it was a bit worrying.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

I assume this person knows you witnessed it as you say they'd know it was you even if you gave evidence behind the screen. They will also know that there is a witness statement and a witness to be called so they already know and I assume have not been threatening towards you. Are they expected to get a prison sentence?

Contact the Witness Service. Citizens Advice. I support witnesses. They will go through everything with you and even sit in the Court with you. Although cannot say anything. You can have live link or Screens. You will be able to read your statement beforehand. You won’t flounder. Someone will be with you all the time. I usually do pre trial visits or show witness/ victim a court on the day. I hope this helps. You will be surprised how good you will be at giving evidence. Questioning starts with the Prosecutor who goes through your statement. Giving you timelines and getting to give the evidence in your own words. Then the defence ask questions. Sometimes when the witnesses turn up the Defendant pleads guilty. Good luck

@Goatjumpers that is terrifying.

I have just watched the trial of an abusive man -it began with complaints about me.

As you say, you never think it can happen to you.

of course you're scared. Anyone would be. You need more support than you're getting I think. See who you can talk to about that

Of course you are going to worry but contempt of court worst case scenario is two years in prison which I think would be just as scary.
Hopefully they will plead guilty at the last minute.

I hope you manage to get the support you need. It is worth bearing in mind that this may be a defence tactic and they will wait to see if you come to Court. Often when all the witnesses called do attend, the plea changes to a guilty plea.

You can self refer to the CA Witness Service

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/law-and-courts/legal-system/going-to-court-as-a-witness1/get-help-and-support-being-a-witness/witness-referral/

I have used them to help support witnesses in prosecutions I've been involved in and found them to be pretty good.

As has been previously mentioned, the issue of a witness summons and actions taken for non attendance may well vary between Magistrates and Crown.

Consideration should also be given to possible contempt of Court charges/ prosecution. This wouldn't mean a few days in the cells, it means you could have a conviction that may affect many aspects of your life going forward such as employment, finance, obtaining insurance etc.