Domestic violence is a subject that is not necessarily talked about enough in everyday life unless, as in recent times, a celebrity is charged with assault in a domestic context. We then become transfixed with how the system actually works when dealing with domestic violence cases.
If a complainant rings the police and tells them over the phone on a 999 call (which is always recorded) that they have been assaulted by their partner, the police will be sent out to investigate. Upon arrival of the police, the parties will be separated. If, the complainant is a woman, there will normally be a female police officer who will speak to her in a separate room and try to ask her to write a statement about what happened or at least take an account of what happened in her pocket book. The partner will then be arrested and taken to police custody where he can give his account under caution. If he is later charged bail conditions will be imposed to stop all contact with the partner until the conclusion of the case. (Even if the defendant is later acquitted he can still be slammed with a restraining order stopping contact with his partner). I have found that in practise this results in great upheaval where the parties have children together. Normally a third party is appointed to facilitate contact between the accused and his children. This could end up being the responsibility of Social Services.
I have found that in my own practise a large proportion of complainants withdraw the original statements that they made. Most of them say that they have changed their minds and that they no longer support prosecution. Hardly any of them say that the situation had never actually happened at all.
The firm stance taken by the Crown Prosecution Service is to pursue the allegations nonetheless, even if this means asking for the court to issue a summons to require the complainant’s attendance (often they do not want to attend court) or treating them as a hostile witness (the prosecutor asking them leading questions which prompts them to support their original statement regarding the assault).
Ultimately, if the complainant is wholly unsupportive of prosecution, despite all the mechanisms at the court’s disposal, the defendant may ultimately be acquitted, however the firm policy of the Crown Prosecution Service is that they will progress with domestic violence cases in a very robust manner.
