Mark Robinson of the Garden Court Criminal Defence Team successfully acted for the defendant, instructed by Wainwright Cummins.
Mark Robinson secured an acquittal after a terminatory ruling for his client charged with Intentional Strangulation and Witness Intimidation at Guildford Crown Court.
The defendant was alleged to have strangled his ex-partner and then threatened her to drop the charges at a later date. Despite the prosecutor’s best efforts to adduce evidence that supported the prosecution case, the client gave evidence that was not consistent with her previous statements; however, this did not give rise to a hostile witness application from the prosecution.
Mark sought not to cross-examine the complainant and relied upon a rarely used point of law in the absence of the jury before the case for the prosecution had been formally closed. The usual procedure is to make a submission of no case to answer, also known as half-time submissions, after the closure of the prosecution case.
The prosecutor acted with the utmost propriety and conceded the case. The jury were then invited to return not guilty verdicts against Mark’s client on both counts.
In a surprise turn of events after the acquittal, the prosecutor was instructed to seek leave from the trial Judge to appeal his terminatory ruling. The Judge refused the application and said that the matter had gone to the jury, they had now acquitted the defendant, and it was too late, and asked the prosecutor to relay to the reviewing lawyer that even if the prosecutor had attempted to resist Mark’s application, he would have been unsuccessful and said, “Mr Robinson’s submissions were unassailable”.
Mark is regularly instructed on cases which involve serious violence and accepts instructions in this area. If you would like to instruct Mark Robinson, please contact his clerks here.
