Unanimous Acquittal After Crown Court Trial Involving Allegations Of ABH, Assault By Beating And Criminal Damage

Our client faced trial at  Guildford the Crown Court charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH), assault by beating and criminal damage arising from an incident said to have taken place in October 2023.

The prosecution alleged that our client had assaulted a father and mother who were walking home with their daughters after leaving a pub. It was said that our client cycled towards the father and assaulted him during an altercation. He is alleged to have knocked a mobile phone from the mother’s hand, causing damage and later thrown something at her when cycling away. The prosecution case was supported at trial by evidence from the mother, father, their two daughters and the officer in charge of the investigation.

Our client denied the allegations throughout. His case was that he had been knocked from his bicycle, that any force used was in self-defence, and that he did not commit the further allegations said to have involved the mother and her phone. A key part of the defence case was that one of our client’s friends, who had been present at the time, could support the account that our client had been acting in self-defence.

The matter was listed for trial in 2026. As one important defence witness was residing in another country, we took steps to secure his evidence by video-link from abroad, including making the necessary application in relation to mutual legal assistance and live link arrangements.

Following trial, the jury took under two hours to return unanimous not guilty verdicts on all three counts.

This was an excellent result for our client who is young and of good character, having faced serious allegations for a prolonged period.

Our client wrote to Daniel following the result stating: “I wanted to thank you and Ellie for all your hard work on my case, it is such a relief it’s all over”.

Daniel Caverglieri was the solicitor with conduct of this case and he was assisted by trainee Ellie Godwin. Instructed Counsel was Tim Hunter from 2BR Chambers.