Grievous bodily harm jury acquittal

The prosecution alleged our client and his father-in-law jointly assaulted our client’s father with a shovel and a baseball bat in March 2015. The complainant suffered serious and potentially life-threatening injuries. In our client’s defence, we submitted that the complainant was a violent and vindictive man who had been menacing our client for years and had embellished his testimony with the intention of seeing our client go to jail. During the four-day District Court trial in Perth, the prosecution relied heavily upon DNA evidence to corroborate the complainant’s testimony. Our client, who elected not to give evidence, maintained he was not present during the altercation. After deliberating for less than one hour the jury acquitted our client and his father-in-law of the charge on the indictment and further acquitted both men of the lesser alternative charges of unlawfully doing grievous bodily harm and unlawful assault occasioning bodily harm.