If i have a police caution for having a fight, what the victim could do?

Question

i had a fight the other day because the guy was totally rude and was throwing mustard at me. i gave him a big black eye and to get out of the police station as fast as possible i needed to admit to caution. so i did. now i don't know if the other guy could take me to a court and what consequences would be. please help !!!!! please please please!!!!

Answer 1

him throwing mustard is an assault  so if he takes you to court you have him arrested for an assault and bring charges against him?

Answer 2

You may have accepted a caution, that is not the end of it, because you now have a record for violence.

If the victim sues you, and you are found guilty you deserve your fate, compensation and all.

Answer 3

If its UK based from the police action the caution is the end result.

The person still however can take you to civil court for damages etc...consequences will be a civil claim IE paying him damages.

Answer 4

Your relatively simple Q has the potential for a lengthy legal answer so I'll try to keep it simple.

Your acceptance of the caution is an admission of the offence.

The caution is on a par with a conviction and is capable of being mentioned should you ever get involved in a further criminal offence/ allegation  and the police/ or court need to consider your past in deciding what action to take against you.

The victim could consider taking civil action for damages against you on the basis of your admission and caution.

From what you say so far no action has been taken against the other person so the odds are in his, not your, favour.

Does the police caution at least stop the other party taking out a private criminal summons against you for assault ?

This is highly technical and for an interesting discussion of the effect of a police caution and if it stops a private criminal prosecution see the case of Jones v Whalley HL [2006] where, on the facts the Magistrates had refused to hear a private prosecution after the offender had already accepted a police caution.

If the other party really wanted to take a criminal prosecution against you, and I'm not suggesting for one minute in the circumstances you outlined they would, they could seek a Judicial Review to remove your caution and then initiate a criminal prosecution, either by the police having to accept a prosecution was more appropriate or by their own private criminal prosecution..

To tie things up, worst case, expect a civil case action against you for damages on the basis from what you tell us your assault upon them was OTT and disproportionate to the rudeness you were suffering.

Keep your head down and it may all go away from you.

Answer 5

if he does and you are found guilty he could claim compensation for his black eye.it sounds from what you have said that it was self defence so hopefully the muppet wont take it any further.

Answer 6

Worst case scenario, the guy gets warrants on you for assault for hitting him.  If this scenario happens get warrants on him for throwing mustard on you.  It will be dropped in court, trust me.  Cross warrants is messy and takes up time but if he ticked you off he is just as bad as you were for hitting him and the judges usually look at it that way also.

Answer 7

This question appears in the UK & Ireland section, so I'll give you the appropriate advice. You clearly admitted the offence and received a caution instead of being taken to court by the police. That's the end of it, as far as the police are concerned.

The only other possible problem is a civil one, where the guy you assaulted could conceivably sue you for damages; I doubt it would fly, though.

Answer 8

You got in a fight because of mustard?!?!

I don't think you'll have to worry about the guy taking you to court if he was throwing mustard at you. Would you really want to admit that to a judge? I could be wrong...