Why is my boyfriend being charged with GBH with intent [section 18] when no weapon was used?

Question

My boyfriend is currently on remand for GBH with intent. It was self defence though this needs to be proved at his trial in November. The victim sustained a broken cheekbone and broken ankle. No weapon was used. I dont understand where the intent comes into it. This is also my boyfriends second strike since he's had a previous conviction for GBH section 18. Surely the charge should be dropped to GBH section 20. since no weapon was used. United kingdom

Answer 1

GBH with intent is the appropriate charge for assaults which have more serious physical consequences, eg broken limbs or injuries resulting in lengthy treatment or incapacity. By the sound of it, your boyfriend dealt some powerful blows with his fists and also kicked very hard, to inflict such injuries, and went on fighting after the other person was in no condition to respond, with such serious physical punishment. Generally when a person acts in self-defence, one would expect fewer injuries, and less serious ones, as self defence involves acting with "reasonable force" rather than violence, which might explain why he is facing the "with intent" charge. The fact that no weapon was used is immaterial, but that's for the court to decide.

It is always open to the court to convict on a lesser charge in a situation like this.

Answer 2

The section the police used is pretty much a catch all and the reason it was with intent is because your boyfriend did hurt the other person by breaking bones.  In this case the weapons were his hands.  Anybody with any self defense knowledge and martial arts experience knows that.  My advice to you is to drop the bum, he will eventually hurt you.  

Answer 3

Your boyfriend should be spit roasted with a 12" police truncheon whilst being fed rat vomit in a dark and dingy dungeon prison for his awful actions.

After his marathon sodomisation, he needs to be hanged.

He is a career criminal and we do not need scum like that in our society.

Answer 4

minimise his actions if you must but you best get rid of him quick or you will have a life of h**l. are you scared of him?

some prison visits rooms are well decorated and provide food and drinks so your life wont be all bad.

Answer 5

I expect because he is an idiot!

Answer 6

You do not need a weapon for GBH, my opinion your boyfriend should go down for a long time

Answer 7

I suspect it is because he is a chavy thug who thinks he has the right to hit out whenever something does not go his way.  Was he pissed at the time as well?  Self defence does not need to go as far as breaking someone's bones.  I hope he gets what is coming to him and you see sense and get away from a pathetic, violent thug!

Answer 8

It sounds like your dating a chav thug and fact he has done this before should warn you he may one day beat you

Answer 9

Sec 18 is where a person unlawfully or maliciously BY ANY MEANS wounds/causes GBH with intent to either GBH or resist or prevent the arrest of any person.

So that and SEC 20 does not need to involve the use of a weapon.

Intent could be for eg: continuing to assault that then leads to GBH (stamping on a head after the victim is on the ground) or takes a weapon with them.

A GBH could also be someone jumping from a train to avoid being raped or involve phychiatric harm.

Without further insight its hard to say why they have opted for SEC 18, but knowing the CPS they would not have charged with it unless they were very sure of having enough evidence to get a conviction.

Answer 10

Self defence but he had to break a cheekbone and an ankle before he could get away? Someone's telling porkies. You don't need a weapon to harm someone with intent and it sounds like he caused enough damage without one.

Answer 11

Because there were  broken bones.

the cps will probably drop it down if he agrees to plead guilty to a section 20

You're boyfriend should be prepared to serve a minimum of 2 years plus epp of 1 year for the section 20 because he already has a section 18 conviction and the Judge will take this into consideration when passing sentence.

Answer 12

Your boyfriend sounds like a nice guy NOT, what an ar****le.The 'intent' bit means that he intended to commit much worse injuries to the point of deliberately breaking bones. The fact that no so-called weapon was used does not come into it, he beat someone up with the intention of doing the poor git a serious amount of harm. Why do you want an idiot like this in your life, can you not find a decent lad to go out with? What are you going to do when he starts beating you up, don't say it won't happen as it will. He obviously does not care about hurting anyone so you will be no different. Dump him and go back to playing with your Cindy dolls until you grow up.

Answer 13

You don't need to have a weapon to have intent to do someone a mischief. What injuries did your boyfriend get ?

Answer 14

Section 18 wounding = causing grievous (really serious) bodily harm with intent to cause such serious harm. In other words he set out to cause serious injury and he succeeded with that intention by causing serious harm. There is no mention of a weapon in this legislation, although the use of a weapon aggravates the offence and may well be used to show intent to cause really serious harm.

How can you say you needed to break someones cheek bone and then their ankle to prevent injury to yourself. He had to break two bones in a victims body to prevent harm to himself. Self defence my backside.

No the charge should not be reduced. He has injured a second person seriously, so he clearly has a problem with violence and has not learnt his lesson from his previous conviction.

If I were you I would get another boyfriend because;

1) He is hopefully going to prison for this offence. This leaves you lonely and having to fend for yourself.



2) He has a proven history of serious violence (even if you disregard this case he already has a conviction for a serious assault.) So his conduct shows his propensity to violence and that he is likely to re-offend. Therefore even if he gets away with this assault (unlikely) he is likely to get caught again and go to prison later. Again this will leave you alone and lonely.

3) Who will be his next victim, you, a member of your family?

Don't tie yourself down to this looser, walk, unlike his last victim you can still walk without a limp!

Answer 15

I am assuming this was a fight ??

Broken cheekbone and a broken ankle for the other guy ??  Well which ever came first, I would imagine most people would stop fighting or be on the ground in pain with either of those injuries.  So what that says to me is ur bf kept after this person when he was in obvious control of the fight.  Ya know it is possible to become the aggressor in a fight you don't start.  It sounds like your bf crossed over that line from defending himself....turning himself into the aggressor.  

Answer 16

It makes no difference whether a weapon was used or not. The major factors are firstly the level of injuries that the victim received, and secondly witness evidence. You should be aware that as your boyfriend already has a s.18 conviction, if he is convicted a second time, he will have to be given an indeterminate sentence for public protection. This means that he will be given a minimum tariff by the judge, for example 6 years, but he will not be released until he is judged to be no longer a danger to the public. On his current form, he clearly is a danger to the public who have a righ to be protected from people like him. All being well he will be in prison for a very long time.

Answer 17

gbh means grevious body harm basically assault if he used a gun it would have been assault with a deadly weapon and also intent means on purpose so he did it meaning to hurt him. a broken cheek bone and ankle sounds pretty bad.