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Assault question

Darkglasses · 2015-08-19 23:19:24

Does the victim of an assault have to give evidence/co-operate with Gardai for an assault charge to carry?

19-08-2015 11:19pm

#1

Darkglasses

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Does the victim of an assault have to give evidence/co-operate with Gardai for an assault charge to carry?

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Comments

#2 19-08-2015 11:52pm

coylemj

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In almost all situations, yes they do. Otherwise the assailant can claim that he and the victim were 'just messing about' and he didn't mean to assault him. A conviction would be possible without the victim giving evidence but it would typically require an independent eye witness who observed the whole incident and a judge would typically be amenable to a defence submission calling for an acquittal based on a misunderstanding between the parties or that the witness misinterpreted what he heard and that the (absent) 'victim' was the true aggressor. With a cloud of doubt and nobody to rebut it, any half competent lawyer would get an acquittal.

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