Seek ontario legal advice

CygnusKnights

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Hey, So this occurred in Ontario, Canada in June 2012. I was just wondering if anyone knows what to expect or how to help resolve this issue.

The situation is my friend and her husband got into a nasty argument one morning. She believed that he was going to assault her so in return she retaliated by biting his arm. He has hit her in the past.

The issue here is he has bite marks(had now I think they've healed) while she was not physically hit at all on this day. (I do not believe police took a photo as evidence though.)

She has denied the PARS program as that would indicate she accepts a guilty plea which means she's got a bad record when applying for jobs and travelling. It ultimately affects her future so she absolutely doesn't want that.

Child Protection Services or whatever they're called did come to review the situation and deemed her not a threat to her kids ( two minor children who were there at the scene). They currently are with her.

She only has free legal aid from students so I don't know to what extent she will receive help. Currently the progress in court is at a pre-trial or the next time she goes to court they will set a trial date if she continues to fight the case.

So what can/should my friend do to avoid getting a bad record? I may or may not have missed some important information that could help.. but is there any chance at all at winning? Apparently the Crown takes these Assault Charges very seriously. Usually these cases involve the man assaulting the woman... In this case the woman assaulted the man.

She intends to divorce, for one, but also what should she do for her best chance at proving she isn't guilty?

Anyone with any information please help! Post or inbox me please
 

erratic

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I'm no lawyer, but I have some third-party experience in these matters. From what you've said it sounds like she assaulted him. He may be an asshole woman abuser, but she bit him and that's assault under the law. My guess is that your friend's legal advice is to argue it was self defence, given that he's assaulted her in the past and she felt intimidated at the time.

Unfortunately, it then boils down to he-said, she-said, and he has the only physical evidence. If she filed any previous complaints against him, that would help her case. If she went to the hospital or to her doctor previously because of injuries sustained by being assaulted by him, that would help her case, especially since the doctor or hospital would be obliged to report the assault (if I remember correctly). If she has no previous criminal record, that should help her case.

You're right in that these sorts of incidents are taken very seriously in Ontario, by and large. There's been a real effort in some quarters to make a woman assaulting a man taken as seriously as a man assaulting a woman, even though the former usually results in lesser injuries than the latter.

Your friend might consider contacting woman abuse advocacy and assistance organizations. She's not the only abused woman who's faced a situation like this, and someone should be able to provide her with good advice.