Legal Aid Refused

[littlesally]

Hi, am in desperate need of help.

My daughter has been charged with GBH with intent and been refused Legal Aid.

The reason for it being turned down is because she is a student and has a young child in child care paid for by the university. Apparently this is all counted as 'income'.

This puzzles me as uni income is actually a loan which she will need to repay if she earns over a certain amount.

Also, childcare money is for childcare. If she used it for legal fees the uni could probably sue her for theft, her child wouldn't be able to attend nursery therefore she couldn't attend uni. The money has already been paid to the nursery.

She has appealed and now she has been told she has to pay £5000 towards the cost and her solicitor has kindly worked out a payment plan of £600 per month! No idea where that will come from though.

Her solicitor has been rubbish as he didn't think he was going to get paid - she has even had to enter a plea without much guidance from him and a couple of minutes on the day with her barrister!

She is due for trial in August which isn't that far away.

There is a lot to this case, domestic violence, young child etc. Without proper legal representation she could easily go to prison for a few years but with a solicitor and barrister that care about the case (get paid) she can prove extreme provocation.

Is our legal system really so badly screwed that it is telling her to use her uni fees and childcare costs to pay for her defense?

She gets normal uni fees, no higher rate for anything.

Please help

Sally xx

[Kati]

Re: Legal Aid Refused

Was she charged with gbh against the person who was involved with the Domestic Violence issues?? If so, this might help
https://www.gov.uk/legal-aid/domestic-abuse-or-violence

5. Domestic abuse or violence

You might be able to get legal aid if you have evidence that you or your children have been victims of domestic abuse or violence and you can’t afford to pay legal costs.
You don’t have to get evidence before talking to a legal aid solicitor orCivil Legal Advice (CLA), but they’ll need to see it before deciding whether you can get legal aid.

What counts as evidence

You’ll usually need to show that you or your children were at risk of harm from an ex-partner or had injuries or a condition caused by domestic abuse or violence. This can be in the form of a letter from the police or your GP.
You can also ask for evidence from:

• the courts
• a multi-agency risk assessment conference (MARAC)
• social services
• a health professional, eg a doctor, nurse, midwife, psychologist or health visitor
• a refuge manager
• a domestic violence support service

How to get evidence

You can download and print a ‘sample letter’. This helps you get the proof you need, depending on whether:

• you’ve been a victim of domestic abuse or violence
• your children have been victims of domestic abuse or violence

Give the letter to the person you’re asking to provide evidence. They’ll be able to fill in the details for you.
You might have to pay a fee for this.

When you have the evidence

Show the evidence to your legal aid solicitor or CLA adviser.

[Amethyst]

Re: Legal Aid Refused

This is the calculator Sal https://www.gov.uk/criminal-legal-aid-means-testing

It takes into account student loans and child benefit as income.

I'm not sure where the child care paid for by the university would come into it.

Do you have an idea how much her student loan is ?

Not sure which appeal she has already been through but there is a further hardship eligibility appeal could be made ( detailed on that same page linked above)

Domestic Violence is a difficult one - the evidence criteria is quite high and it has to be evidenced within the last 2 years and directly related to the offence.

[littlesally]

Re: Legal Aid Refused

No it wasn't.
It was a planned pregnancy but as soon as she became pregnant they split - he met someone else!
She then met someone else who became a perpetrator of DV against her. This went on for months after they broke up, lots of police involvement etc.

Her child's father out of the blue (after two years of silence) said he wanted to see his son.
There are a few reasons why she agreed - we are a female only family and this was having an effect on her child.

Anyway the child's father came, was here for three days (was meant to be a week) then his girlfriend got paranoid and started threatening him to return home.
Long story short it turned really nasty. She through his bag out and shouted for him to leave which he did. If then returned for his jumper and to ask for train fare! My daughter slashed his jumper with a knife. At some point he spoke to his girlfriend on the phone saying he would never be seeing his son again and wished he was dead! As he said that he bent down to pick up his bag and my daughter punched him with both fists in the back - still holding the knife which she didn't realise she was holding still - the way she hit him with both fists backs this up.
Apart from bleeding no real damage was done.

He says he was walking away but the evidence will show he was actually bent down in front of her.

She says there was something in the way he spoke to her which reminded her of the DV and felt something snap.

Since then we have found that he has been previously arrested for DV to more than one partner - we are waiting for details. This shows her instinct was right.

Unfortunately at this point it doesn't help with legal aid

[littlesally]

Re: Legal Aid Refused

Will check that Ame, thank you.

I'm not saying my daughter was right, she doesn't think she was right either but surely she is entitled to legal aid?

Seems madness that she could go to prison with no legal representation.

[Amethyst]

Re: Legal Aid Refused

Nope, and I'm not sure that he was bent down rather than walking away helps massively in her criminal defence either but thats for the solicitors xxx

So she probably needs to apply for hardship eligibility review - though her solicitor should have gone through that already ?

[littlesally]

Re: Legal Aid Refused

He must have as she has appealed. At first they said no help at all but the appeal has said she needs to pay £5000.

Her solicitor has basically only seen her to arrange his payment. He's done the bare minimum of anything else.

Changing solicitors is very difficult unless you're paying.

Not sure how much uni money she gets. Going to tell her to log on here.

Thanks Ame xx