Defendant Acquitted of Threats to Kill and Strangulation

Alexandra Scott’s client was accused of launching a campaign of violence against a friend, said to include strangulation to the point of loss of consciousness, threats to kill and attempting to inflict grievous bodily harm with a baseball bat.

The defendant gave a comprehensive prepared statement at interview, which identified a number of lines of enquiry, none of which were pursued until service of both the Defence Statement and a Section 8 application, by which stage many opportunities to secure video and phone evidence had been lost.  The defence also had to apply for a witness summons to compel the prison to hand over the defendant’s own digital device. 

The defence relied upon call logs and videos recovered from the device, in conjunction with the defendant’s bank statements, to undermine the complainant’s credibility in cross-examination, following which the Crown decided not to proceed with any further evidence, and the jury returned ‘not guilty’ verdicts at the Judge’s direction.

Alexandra was instructed by Melissa Ansah of Murray Hughman.