Amiee Parkes, instructed by Smith Dawson Solicitors and appearing Wolverhampton Crown Court, successfully defended a young man accused of multiple offenses, including non-fatal strangulation of his ex-partner. One of the allegations against him was he strangled the complainant so hard with a leather belt that it had snapped on her windpipe.
On day three of the trial a professional witness for the Defence, failed to attend Court. After failing to have the witness produced on a witness summons, Amiee was successful in making a hearsay application on the basis that the Defence had done all they could to find the witness and secure their attendance at Court but had been unsuccessful. The witness’ evidence was crucial to the Defence as he confirmed he’d overhead one of the arguments where it was alleged the Defendant had assaulted his partner. That conversation demonstrated that it was in fact the complainant who was being aggressive toward the Defendant. Amiee successfully argued the witness was an independent ‘professional’ witness, who worked for the DWP and had previously agreed to attend the trial. His evidence was therefore read as non-agreed hearsay.
The jury went on and acquitted the Defendant of all charges on day 5 of the trial.