Our newest tenant, Lara McCaffrey, was successful in two conviction appeals in one day at Manchester Crown Court, on Friday 21st April. The first appeal against conviction related to an offence under Section 4 Public Order Act, the second was based on racially aggravated public order offences and was successfully argued without the client being in attendance. Please see below for more details.
R v JC
It was alleged that the accused had committed an offence under Section 4 Public Order Act by way of kicking the complainant’s front door whilst she was inside of the property, shouting threats to commit violence against her and her partner.
The appellant had been committed for sentence by the magistrates’ court and was, almost inevitably, facing custody by virtue of the fact that the conviction put him in breach of a Crown Court suspended sentence order and he had a record of similar offending.
The defence case was that the complainant had fabricated the allegation out of malice after the appellant had spurned her sexual advances, and was cross-examined on this basis. The log of her initial call to the police was used to expose inconsistencies in her account which undermined her credibility.
The appellant was subsequently acquitted after trial. The Crown applied for a restraining order upon acquittal. Lara resisted the application, arguing that the requirements of Section 5A Protection from Harassment Act 1997 were not satisfied; the bench agreed with the submission and the Crown’s application was refused.
R v LD
The client was appealing her convictions for offences of racially aggravated and basic public order after it was alleged that she had been racially abusive to a taxi driver after colliding with his vehicle whilst under the influence of alcohol.
As the complainant did not attend court, The Crown applied to adjourn the trial and to issue a summons in order to secure his attendance on the next occasion.
Lara successfully resisted the application for an adjournment, citing the principles set out in the case of ‘Picton.’ The Crown was forced to proceed to trial and offered no evidence accordingly. Both charges were subsequently dismissed.
To view Lara’s full profile and CV, please click here.