Lalith de Kauwe of Garden Court Chambers, instructed by Mohsin Ariff of Lloyds PR solicitors successfully defended Ahmed Khalil at Woolwich Crown Court.
Mr Khalil who was a victim of unprovoked violence by two men was acquitted of affray on a submission of no case to answer at Woolwich Crown Court. He had acted in self-defence and/or defence of another.
One of the assailants suffered serious brain injuries and Mr Khalil was originally charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent. There was an issue as to causation of the injuries. He disputed that any punch from him caused really serious bodily harm. A punch to the assailant's face, had caused him to fall backwards and hit his head on the ground.
Mr Khalil denied kicking the assailant in the head as he lay prostrate, as claimed by the police officer in charge of the investigation. The violence perpetrated by the assailants was captured on CCTV. It showed that Mr Khalil intervened to protect a friend from serious injury by punching an assailant in the face.
The defence contended that the police had failed to conduct a proper investigation and the Crown Prosecution Service had failed to check all relevant CCTV that proved Mr Khalil's account in interview to be true.
Lalith de Kauwe is a member of the Garden Court Chambers Crime Team.
