Malicious Allegations Are An Insult To Genuine Victims
All couples argue and fall out at times, it’s only natural. We have all heard stories of the couple that come home drunk from the pub on a Friday night, have a petty argument that escalates into a full row and there may even be a bit of pushing and shoving. Not that it’s right under any circumstances but it happens, and its usually momentary and instantly regretted and forgotten.
But what about the times when the woman wants to go to bed but her partner just won’t let it drop, so she rings the Police. They attend the property, and remove the male either to another address or even to a Police cell for the night. They say “oh it’s only a domestic we can’t really get involved”, the couple sobers up, he comes home the next day and all is forgiven and forgotten.
Sound familiar? That used to be the default position. Years ago….
The Police and Crown Prosecution Service have a new approach where allegations of Domestic Violence are made, and they take it extremely seriously indeed. They will always prosecute for this kind of offence and even where the alleged victim withdraws their statement, or their support for the prosecution, it will be pursued by the Police and CPS without their main prosecution witness.
Why is this?
Think about the news stories you have read or heard of in the past ten years, where there is a female making repeated calls to the Police about an abusive partner. He is arrested, the next day she withdraws her statement and he is released with no further action. This happens again a couple of months later. Then a few months after that it happens again only this time she ends up in hospital with a broken collarbone. She refuses to make a formal complaint to the Police, says it was just an argument that got out of hand and won’t pursue it. The Police Officer she is talking to knows full well that she is too scared to go through with a prosecution in case it makes things worse, or she has her children taken away. But, without a complaint the Police can’t take any action against him.
A year later she is dead. Beaten to death by a violent partner that had slipped through the system because she was too scared and downtrodden to make a stand for herself. She could not be protected and she was vulnerable. And now she can’t ever stand up for herself.
(And, of course, the victim can be a man and in those cases it’s even harder for him to seek the help he needs because of the stigma still attached to male domestic violence victims.)
We have all heard numerous stories like this, and sadly they are far too common an occurrence. The Police quite rightly came in for a great deal of criticism for apparently leaving this poor woman to her fate without intervening, and eventually the rules changed to give women like this more protection, support and assistance to get justice for themselves and also to break the cycle of violent and abusive behaviour.
So now, they will prosecute every instance of domestic related violence. Every time. With or without the support of the complainant.
Sadly, there are still (mainly) women who will call the Police out to a “normal” domestic argument and claim she has been assaulted, when the truth is that there was no assault, or it was self-defence, or she has done it just to get him out of the house for the night. These tactics wont work any more and could very likely result in the husband accepting a caution and all the implications that brings, or even worse being charged with an offence and having to go through the court system.
The new laws were brought in to protect real victims, but unfortunately are still being exploited by some women who are trying to play the system.
We received a call very recently from a female who had done just that, and her partner had accepted a caution for Common Assault. During an argument she went to hit him with a metal ladle and he stepped forward to stop her, and pushed her away from him.
This caution then showed up on a DBS check with his employer meaning he lost his job as a school bus driver as he now has a conviction for assault.
“But I didn’t mean it to get that far” she said. “I am shocked at what he’s been through, I only called the Police because I was angry with him, I didn’t think he would be charged!!”
The law is there to protect people, not to be used as a weapon against a partner, neighbour or someone you have fallen out with. Calling the Police out to a petty argument means there could be a woman or man in a genuine situation somewhere who is not receiving the Police’s attention while they deal with something that should never have been reported.
Think about whether what you are complaining to the Police about is a genuine issue. If you are using the law as a stick to beat someone with then don’t make that call.
If you are on the receiving end of genuine domestic violence, then do not live in fear – make that call and get the support you deserve and need.
If you have been charged with any violent offence, call our specialist team for free initial advice on 01623 397200.
