Katrina Walcott secures unanimous acquittal

HA stood trial at Harrow Crown Court for Affray. He was represented by Katrina Walcott, instructed by Robert Wong of JD Spicer Zeb Solicitors.

HA was jointly charged with two others who pleaded Guilty on the first day of trial. The complainants were two men whom HA was accused of committing a revenge attack on with his two co-defendants - HA’s friends. One of his co-defendants was alleged to use a bladed article during the altercation. The incident was caught on CCTV and both complainants sustained injuries.

The defence successfully argued that HA acted in self-defence throughout and had not been the aggressor, as was the prosecution case.

The defence made a successful s.78 PACE 1984 application to exclude the guilty pleas of HA’s co-defendants. The Crown made an application to adduce the pleas under s.74 of PACE 1984, on relevance and probative value grounds. Citing the cases Curry (1988) and Smith (2007) the defence argued that the guilty pleas carried insurmountable prejudicial weight in the context of the offence, as being relied on to undermine HA’s defence and imply guilt.

Following a three-day trial, and after two hours of jury deliberation, HA was unanimously acquitted.