assault

I will put what happened in brief. My sister and I have never been involved with the law, no convictions not even a speeding ticket!
My sister was driving, when a lady nearly hit my sisters car and nearly caused another accident. I was very upset and angry, because i have been driven off the road and abused way too much, as my sister has too in the past because we are either to slow or whatever.
I confronted her about her driving which then led to an agrgument. She did not want to listen or reason with me, and in hindsight i should never of approached her. When i walked away she yelled at me that she was talking to me and that i should never talk like that in front of her boys with the odd f-word included when she told me this. I turned to her and said i told you what i thought about your driving and you can f-off! She hurled towards me and hit me over the head, kicking and punching me.
My sister who was in the car at the time with her door opened, ran over to assist me to get her off me. This lady is nearly 6 foot and well built, i am 5 foot 3 around 56 kgs. My sister helped me get her off me when she turned her attention to my sister, hitting and grabbing her hair and pulling her head down towards her knees.
Two ladies then rushed across to help me get this lady off my sister, when i eventually persuaded her to let go.
The two witnesses told her to leave us alone when she said that dont worry for them worry for me and my two boys. She was persistent to have it out with me, having the other two ladies to grab her from time to time during arguing. My sister who does not like confrontations and was upset with the way this lady reacted ran to her passengers side door which was at least 3 car spaces lengths across from where it happened and produced a stanley knife with no blade up and yelled from her car we dont want trouble just back off!(my sister keeps this in her car as a back up knife for work purposes only, which was stated to police)
A man ran across from the car park and hit my sister over the back of the head kicked her in the inner thigh and dragged her around to the front of the car, where i ran over and said let her go, and asked what she was doing? I said to her drop the knife, and the man made no effort to get the knife out of her hand, the lady who i had the argument with was approaching when my sister dropped the knife and i grabbed it, she then sprayed hairspray into my sisters eyes and was wanting to fight. My sister staggered away to the car when i yelled out for everyone to cut it out! The woman and the man turned there attention to me, with the man grabbing me and asking for the knife which i gave to another man who i belived who was a friend of his. This other man then ripped his shirt off and yelled at me to bring it on! I backed away to see if my sister was ok.
I rang an ambulance and asked for police, but the 2 lady witnesses had already rang them. The lady who hit me to begin with said i won't lay charges if you won't lay charges on me? I was told by the ambulance to get in the car and go outside away from harm and wait for the paramedics to arrive.
We got into the car, with my sister eyes blurry and face red. Drove out of the carpark and waited. I then had seen a police car go into the carpark, i said to my sister to wait here for the paramedics while i will let the police know where we are. Upon approaching it was evident that witnesses were standing by this lady. I heard her yell out upon approaching that i hit her first. I yelled back i did not! your lying!
With that, i was told to go back outside and wait for the police. Upon getting back to the car, paramedics had not yet arrived. My sister was upset and her face red and eyes swollen. She was angry at me for trying to reason with the lady.
My sister persisted to drive away with me in the passenger seat. Police pulled along the passenger side door ordering us to pull over. (It was i that only saw the hand signal) unfortunately i thought my sister would stop. We were arguing when i opened my door to get her attention to stop. I got out of the car, when i saw the police behind the car with lights flashing, i told her to pullover, but she argued back, with myself losing it and telling her to go! The police were involved in a small pursuit of about 2km with my sister pulling over at an intersection which she stopped at a red light. She went to hospital, and was provided a medical report based on injuries (the police had taken the orignail and gave her a copy?). We went to the police station where we both made a statements based on what i have said here. My sister was handed her keys back to her car, no bac or drug test was taken. We were free to go with not knowing if we were going to be charged or not. But we were fingerprinted and photographed.

Nearly 6 months after (all but 5 days) we were charged. Summary offences

We have both been charged with assault and assault with a weapon, careless driving, availing police etc. We have a barrister, and upon getting the summary from police, it is evident that witnesses have sided with this lady. They are putting themselves there when the argument took place saying that we both attacked her! I know how it looks, but it is not true! If we cannot get the summary watered down to apply for a diversion, we are going for not guilty pleas. Given that the summary is so far fetched from our statements. Our barrister belives there is a chance they will stuff up during court proceedings. But we don't want jail or convictions...what do you think the outcome will be?

I'm not stranded on a desert island or stuck in an elevator, so I wans't able to read your entire post right away. Just a quick little hint for you, in case you do end up giving evidence;

Anytime a person starts a story with 'This happened, & in past years something else happened & so I was feeling upset, so I went and did this..." It makes you sound like a crackpot.

Edited by shoeverine - 06/November/2009 at 18:03

Hopefully you've learnt your lesson.There's some crazy people out there.What if the other woman had ended up with the knife and killed the pair of you??
The last time i stepped up to argue the point with a stranger i got head butted for my efforts.I'm female,your height and 48kg.He was over 6ft and 100kg plus.Like you i could have ended up seriously injured.As it was only my pride suffered and i can be thankful that i learnt how to bite my tongue without being killed during the lesson.

Ok I read the story, here is my take; the careless driving and evading police charges on your sis seem unavoidable, even going by your version of the story.

The assault charges; well you dont really give enough specifc info to say who started it who provoked who etc. There are three general rules though;

1- The person who initiates & walks up to the other person just to give them a piece of their mind & settle their hash, is usually the one.

2 - The person who runs 3 car spaces away to retrieve a knife even through at that time, the other party is being held back by bystanders, is also usually the one.

3- The person who flees from the arriving police is also usually the one.

Edited by shoeverine - 07/November/2009 at 20:20

The blade was concealed inside and not retracted...thankyou all for your responses. I understand now that i must only state facts when giving evidence, not to ramble on so i don't sound like a fruit cake. Iv never been through something like this before, iv learned a hard lesson, Iv had a tough year on a personal scale too. So this tops it for me, and i am very low with it all.
I go to court for a hearing next week, wish us luck. PEACE ALL

Yes, i made the mistake of confronting her, and should of let it go. I have to live with that. You do not know me, and i am sorry for what happened to you. I am not a criminal. Name calling me like you have done is only ignorance to the situation. two wrongs do not make a right! You of all people should know that now, like myself.

clearazmud, perfectly understood. I take what you said on the chin. Im just trying to work through this, hopefully it won't be all that bad. But it is a lesson well learned.