Shahida Begum of Garden Court represented the defendant. Shahida led John Connolly of Thompsons Solicitors and was instructed by Mutahir Ahmed of Thompsons Solicitors.
DCN was charged with attempted murder and inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent in the alternative. DCN was 14 years at the time of the alleged offence and under a care order. DCN was acquitted of attempted murder but convicted of the alternative offence.
The conviction was successfully appealed, the Court of Appeal ruled that there had been a material misdirection in law during the summing up and a re-trial was ordered.
During the re-trial at Kingston Crown Court the prosecution applied to add a new count to the indictment, which had not been ordered by the Court of Appeal and was successfully resisted. DCN’s defence was that he had been wrongly identified by an eye witness and had in fact been in Basingstoke involved in county lines supply. DCN was a victim of trafficking. DCN was found not guilty on 6 November 2019.
Shahida Begum is a member of the Garden Court Chambers Criminal Defence Team.
