Son accused of affray

Stop taking your son's word for it. If he's the only innocent angel here, it's a complete anamoly.

So there's no CCTV and nothing else to prove him innocent/not innocent? Of course…his friends threw punches but he didn't. Convenient.

Solicitor probably has seen cases like this time-and-time again. He's not just saying to plead guilty for the laugh of it.

You can't use your own beliefs like 'so I can't see him provoking a fight like this'. You just don't know.

EDIT: Checked your created threads….Legal Discussion a popular forum for you!

I would have thought it's highly unlikely he'll get prison time if he's never been in trouble before.

The OP suggested it's a possibility. I assume this is not coming from his solictor and he is panicking.

I would ignore the post telling you not to believe your son - it's self righteous and poorly thought out.

In my opinion, you won't really get a good answer here. Write down all the questions/inconsistencies surrounding this case and try to condense it into a list of targeted questions that you can ask the solicitor in order to get clarity on his advice. Also consider getting a second legal opinion if you're not satisfied with the response you get.

Important to get all facts correct- I’d talk to your son and explain that no matter what he said or didn’t say it’s best to tell the truth now, and you can work things from there - lying is the worst thing he can do

there’s no way he’s doing time.

Good man

This solicitor is obviously unaware of the current state of the Irish prison system.

I’m surprised it’s even gone this far.

Get a different solicitor. Some legal aid solicitors don't want to annoy the judges by running court cases against the guards.

Get another solicitor - one who will genuinely advocate on behalf of your son. Remember that the solicitor takes instructions from the client, not the other way round. If the solicitor is instructed to fight thr case, they will.

The first thing you need to do is get all the evidence. Your son cant decide what to do next without the full facts. Instruct the solicitor to seek FULL DISCLOSURE of all evidence. This will give him access to all witness statements, CCTV etc. Note that ordinarily the Gardai will only disclose the statements that they are going to use in court and not those favourable to your son - hence the need for FULL disclosure.

You also need to gather your own evidence and get it on record. The cinema owner is no use to you unless he's prepared to make a statement.