Teenager in court after family fight

A TEENAGER is free today after a case that magistrates suggested should never have been brought to court.

The 14-year-old was charged with assault after pushing and shoving his older sister when she tried to get him out of bed on July 12.

After hearing about the fight, magistrates at Ipswich Youth Court said: “This was a charge that perhaps should have been dealt with elsewhere, other than in a court, so we are going to give you an absolute discharge.”

However the youth's mother, who accompanied him to court was ordered to complete a 12-month parenting order.

The 14-year-old is now living in his mother's home in the Whitton area of Ipswich again, after spending time with his father outside Suffolk following his guilty plea to the assault.

John Hardwick, prosecuting, said: “His sister needed to get brother up for school. He pushed her into a wooden door.

“He's admitted that he intended to get his sister out of the room and knew it was assault.”

However John Hughes, mitigating, said: “It is a matter really which should never have come to the attention of the police and should not have been criminalised.

“I fear that many young people would come to court if this was a standard action.

“It is a matter that should have been dealt with within the family rather than the justice system.

“He knows that what he did was wrong.”

A spokeswoman for Suffolk's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said: “In this case the CPS reviewed all the evidence and decided there was sufficient evidence to prosecute which included the victim's statement supporting the prosecution.

“We therefore stand by the decision of the prosecution of the youth who pleaded guilty to this offence.”

Should the case have gone to court? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk.