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

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.

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.

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 It is unlikely that a decision to charge will be made if you have withdrawn your statement.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.

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.

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

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