DV report, thinking about withdrawing statement?

[jh77]

Myself and dd's father got into an argument about a week ago and I called the police and made a statement. Ever since I've wanted to withdraw the statement - and let me stress my reasons for doing so solely concern mine and dd's interests and definitely not his! We've been separated for over a year now and have not had contact with him since the incident and without getting into to too much detail I just feel that moving forward a police case is not what me a dd need to move on. Has anyone had any experience on this or know what any potential implications may be? thanks x

[75Renarde]

Not necessarily @RainbowWaffles if there were injuries, marks etc, police will have photos. They will also evidence if there are any marks in him.

[Hecateh]

If he left before they arrived and wasn't arrested then I don't think there is a 'case' to drop.

[RainbowWaffles]

FYI withdrawing your statement isn’t a literal withdrawal ie it is removed from record and thrown away. A withdrawal statement is simply a new statement saying that you don’t want the case to proceed and it is put on the file with your old statement. If you wanted to reply on this incident in future as evidence of anything you would obviously need to explain why you didn’t want the matter to proceed, but the record of it will still be there. A record of an allegation that wasn’t proved in court is of limited use though.

[RainbowWaffles]

If you don’t want the case to proceed, contact the police and make a withdrawal statement. It is unlikely that a decision to charge will be made if you have withdrawn your statement. It is still possible though and depends on whether a risk assessment indicates that a prosecution should take place without your support and whether there is sufficient evidence to secure a conviction without your evidence (such as a witness). They can also send you a summons to compel you to attend court should they wish to rely on your evidence. In the case of a push during an argument with no police history of violence it is unlikely anyone would bother to prosecute if you withdraw.

[Tomjet]

Ok, so firstly it's not up to you whether he is charged, the Police will decide whether they have enough evidence to do so. I believe they normally require at least two pieces of evidence, so your statement would be one, another could be his admission of what happened, a witness statement (neighbour heard the argument etc) or evidence of violence on you or in the location where it took place. The fact that this happened days ago and the Police have not arrested him suggests that this won't proceed any further. If you withdraw your statement you remove evidence of his behaviour, which may be useful if there are any future incidents. You may be 'confident' you can protect yourself and your DD but he's been out of order once already so he could do it again.
I know you want to put it behind you but removing the statement will protect him as there will be no evidence of his behaviour on record, leaving you potentially more vunerable as he knows he can get away with it, and the Police don't have a record of the risk he may pose to you. Leaving the statement with the Police will protect YOU and DD if you need help in the future.

[cakeandchampagne]

Part of “moving on” is not hiding the truth.
He committed domestic violence.
For your future safety (& your child’s) do not withdraw your statement.

[75Renarde]

I don’t think you can “drop the charges” as like pp said it’s not your decision to make. I’ve also known of men to get unsupervised access regardless of dv so I don’t think it makes a huge difference either way.

We as my ex raped me, threatened to rape me, throttled me and punched me in the eye, I'd entirely agree with your assessment there.

[75Renarde]

Some of these women deteriorate so badly after each attack by the time the last one occurs they are barely human any more.

Wrong. They remain human. The scum that did it were never human in the first place

[75Renarde]

@MitziK has it. Absolutely. Let the charges remain on file.

[BigRedLondonBus]

I don’t think you can “drop the charges” as like pp said it’s not your decision to make. I’ve also known of men to get unsupervised access regardless of dv so I don’t think it makes a huge difference either way.

[MitziK]

How it works?

You withdraw your statement, he gets away with it and goes on to either wallop you one next time he's angry or he does it to his next victim, but because there's no previous, he gets away with it again, as it's 'not him'.

Oh, and when he takes you to court for unsupervised contact with the DD, you don't have a leg to stand on, as you withdrew your statement, which means you 'obviously made it up' and you are therefore unreliable in the eyes of the Family Court Judge.

Having that report on file gives you the protection/evidence you need to protect her and yourself. Withdrawing it means you have nothing.

[Bluntness100]

It will be dropped if yours is the only evidence and you refuse to give it

And yes the police dislike this, it's sadly very common in dv cases. The police burn thousands of man hours on this stuff, they geneuinely want to help and deal with this scum, to protect women, but often it is all for the women to drop it in the end.

Although generally for a different reason to yours. Which is "but I love him". The man then goes on to continue to violently abuse the woman, or some other poor sod.

I've family and close friends in the police, and domestic violence is for police officers one of the most soul destroying jobs to have due to the sheer volume of women being abused, dropping rhe charges, going back to them, and then being abused again, and again and again. It's hard to watch. Some of these women deteriorate so badly after each attack by the time the last one occurs they are barely human any more.

Think carefully about what you're doing.

[jh77]

He had already left by the time they arrived and so no he was not arrested and to the best of my knowledge still hasn't been. He has been to prison but for something totally unrelated and when he was a lot younger. Does requesting for the case to be dropped differ from withdrawing a statement?

[Manclife1]

Actually, with the increased use of body worn video ‘victimless’ prosecutions are on the increase and now quite common. You can request for the case to be dropped but it’s not your decision to make.

[funnylittlefloozie]

Did the police attend the incident and remove him from your property? Do you have the name and collar number of the officer who took your statement, and your crime number? You can phone the local police and ask them what the situation is.

[BigRedLondonBus]

My ex was arrested and charged but he had previous history of dv which is why the case still went ahead even after I withdrew my statement. My ex had previously been to prison. If your ex hasn’t and this is the only time then it probably would just be dropped.

[Intothe]

Presumably he was taken in for questioning?
Did he admit it or deny it?
Was he charged? If so, what was he charged with? Common assault?

[Intothe]

However if he doesn't appear, he'll have a bench warrant for his arrest (I think).

[Intothe]

Once he's been charged, it will go to court and be dropped due to lack of evidence. As far as I know.

[jh77]

I have no idea how it works would you mind briefly explaining?

[75Renarde]

The police will absolutly leave it. Dear God. I'm guessing there's not many on here who understand how it works

[jh77]

Ah so he was arrested and charged at some point presumably? There was a push during the argument and I rang the police because at the time I wanted them to placate the situation although things had calmed down by the time they arrived, I know it's coming across that I'm doing this to protect him but I just want to know the process and any experience of it that anyone has

[Treesthemovie]

Sounds like youre protecting him on some level, why did you feel the need to call the police in the first place?

[Intothe]

Was it just a verbal argument?

[BigRedLondonBus]

Nothing happened for me I just had to go down to the station to speak to them though, they weren’t happy about it and did go ahead regardless (I didn’t know this until my ex told me years later as we had no contact after that for a couple of years)