On a Friday night, our client went to a house party. A former friend sucker-punched our client, who instinctively responded by hitting back with the beer bottle he was holding. That Sunday, a group of young men decided to get revenge on our client for hitting their friend with the beer bottle. The group went to our client's house and three of them armed themselves with long wooden sticks from our client's property. Our client, his father. and his friend went outside to confront the trespassers while our client's mother called the police. The trespassers swung their sticks and threw rocks at our client and his father. At some point, one of the three trespassers was stabbed in the arm and suffered a serious injury. The trespassers fled the scene and told the police that our client had been the one to stab their friend. Our client was charged with aggravated assault, assault with a weapon, and possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose.
The group of trespassers had inconsistent stories. Our client and his family has security camera footage from the incident. Our client denied stabbing anyone, but he could still argue that "even if I did stab someone it was in self-defence / defence of property." The matter was set down for trial.
RESULT: The charges were stayed by the prosecution less than a month before trial on the basis that there was no reasonable prospect of conviction.