You are a prosecutor appearing in the magistrates' court. You have just been handed a file concerning a defendant, Scott Smith, who will be appearing in your court later this morning from police custody. The custody officer responsible for charging Scott Smith has refused him bail.

Scott Smith was charged yesterday evening with inflicting grievous bodily harm to Zahid Khan, contrary to Section 20 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861. It is alleged that he attacked the victim outside a club in the city centre in the early hours of the morning. This appears to have arisen from a long-standing dispute between the two and it will be alleged by the prosecution that this was an unprovoked attack. The prosecution will claim that Scott Smith punched the victim to the head causing him to fall to the ground and then kicked the victim's head several times whilst he was on the ground, causing the victim a fractured skull.

A witness to the incident, Eshe Birru, who was leaving the club at the time, has provided a witness statement to the police confirming that Scott Smith was the aggressor and that from what she witnessed, the attack was unprovoked. This witness has also stated that she is not willing to testify against Scott Smith because she knows of his reputation in the area and is scared of him.

When arrested, shortly after the incident and close to where the attack took place, Scott Smith was heavily intoxicated and made threats towards the victim and to this witness in the presence of the arresting officer. Whilst at the police station he was assessed by a psychiatric nurse who did not diagnose any mental health issues but who did make a referral to his local health practice to assess and treat his alcoholism.

When interviewed, Scott Smith exercised his right to remain silent to all questions put to him. This included asking him to account for his presence near to the scene of the attack at or about the time of the offence where he was arrested. He was given a special warning to provide this account but chose to remain silent.

Scott Smith has six previous convictions for offences of violence. All of them have been committed when he is intoxicated. The last two convictions were committed 9 months ago against Zahid Khan and appear to be part of this ongoing dispute. They were both for Public Order Act offences where Scott Smith used and made threats of violence towards Zahid Khan on separate occasions. The second offence was committed whilst he was on bail for the earlier offence. Scott Smith was sentenced in the magistrates' court for both of these offences, and he was given a suspended sentence of imprisonment for 6 months. The sentence was suspended for 2 years.

LB669 Page 2 of The University of Law Limited 2023-2024

You can assume that Scott Smith pleaded guilty to all of his previous convictions.

When you analyse Scott Smith's record of previous convictions you see that he has the following previous convictions:

RECORD OF PREVIOUS CONVICTIONS

Name: Scott SmithDate	Offence(s)	Court	Sentence
10 years ago	Common assault	York Magistrates' Court	Conditional discharge
7 years ago	s47 ABH Failing to surrender	Selby Magistrates' court	3 months imprisonment 28 days imprisonment
6 years ago	Common Assault Failing to surrender	York Magistrates' Court	12 months community order No separate penalty
4 years ago	s47 ABH	York Crown Court	6 months imprisonment
2 years ago	Common assault	York Magistrates' Court	Fine
9 months ago	ss3 & 4 Public Order Act (offence committed on bail)	York Magistrates' Court	6 months imprisonment suspended 24 months

Question 1

Based on the information contained in the Advancd Facts, what grounds and factors will you rely on when opposing bail?