court appearence query?

neilae86

Hi, im seeking some legal advise here. Basically some months back i was on a night out with a group of friends and a disagreament involving some other men occurred at the end of the night. It was a very busy night and a heavy police force was present, so within minutes they were on the scene. Punches were thrown between a friend of mine and one of the other individuals, but i did NOT raise my fist. The two individuals were arrested, meanwhile i stupidly shouted abuse at the arrested and as a result the guard arrested me. I was placed in a cell for about and hour and then released.

Nothing happened for some months after that and my friends told me to forget what had happened and i will hear nothing more about it, but unfortunately a summons to appear in court arrived in the post.

Im obviously really worried about this, as ive never been involved with the law before and i just dont know what to expect. Im going to college in September to study teaching and my main concern is that i will receive a criminal record, which would automatically disqualify me from getting a job as a teacher. Also should i consult a solicitor? im out of employment at the moment and i believe i would find it hard to pay fees.

Can someone please offer me some advice here, any help is greatly appreciated. cheers

gidget

Provided this is a first offence from your part and wasn't anything too serious ( you didn't actually physically assault anyone yourself) you will probably walk away with a slap on the wrist and told to behave in the future and not interfere in situations when an arrest is being made. just make sure you show up or you'll find yourself in an even deeper hole if you don't. if you have a good defence representative - they can appeal to the judge about your hopes in September and you may walk away without a recorded conviction. unfortunately i don't know any - if your any of your friends were arrested that night - ask who they are using.
Keep the mouth firmly shut the next time!!

Victor

Please read the charter and go talk to a solicitor who deals in this kind of thing.

grumpytrousers

i'm not offering anything in the nature of advice; and victor is right re the OP seeking same, but as a statement of fact, around the parts where I live (which should not be relied upon as any sort of grounds for certainty, as it will depend on what a garda says in court) , it is not unheard of for a judge to apply the Probation Act to somebody who has never been in front of a court before, and where the offence is pretty minor.

The net effect is that there is no conviction recorded *unless* the person involved comes to the attention of the court within a certain length of time.

Jo King

Which District Court have you been summoned to? You may be able to persuade a solicitor who operates in that court to handle your case for a small sum. It is unlikely that you would qualify for free legal aid on such a charge. At the very least you should go to the court in advance and see what is going on.

neilae86

Jo King wrote:

Which District Court have you been summoned to? You may be able to persuade a solicitor who operates in that court to handle your case for a small sum. It is unlikely that you would qualify for free legal aid on such a charge. At the very least you should go to the court in advance and see what is going on.

Waterford district court, i have tried contacting the guard in question but to no success. Does anybody know where i could receive free legal advice or is there any helpline etc set up for such cases? thank you

Jo King

The best thing to do would be go to sittings of Waterford District Court and see how cases are dealt with. There will be solicitors on the Legal Aid panel working there. You will pretty quickly see how they operate. You should approach one of them and explain your situation.They will be able to tell you if you qualify for free legal aid or if not how much they would charge to deal with your case.

seamus

Find a solicitor, and please read the charter.