Threat of Assault

An offender threatened a victim with a baseball bat outside his home. Police issued the offender with a conditional caution with a Restorative Justice condition, as this was something the victim was keen to explore.

Facilitators met with the victim and the offender separately to discuss the process. Both parties were willing to meet in a face-to-face direct meeting.  Facilitators established the participants’ motivations to become involved in the Restorative Justice process, discussing the impact of the incident on them and others. The victim wished to discuss the impact of the offence on himself and his wider family, as well as the potential implications for the offender.  The offender wanted to apologise for his behaviour and to move forward.

A meeting was arranged at a nearby neutral location and facilitators were on-hand to meet the victim and offender at the allocated arrival times.  A detailed risk assessment had been completed before the meeting and facilitators had put together a pre-planned script for the meeting.

The victim was able to share with the offender the impact of their actions, and discuss the potential harm to both him and his family.  This was important to the victim as the offender was unaware of the risk that he posed to the welfare of young children present at the victim’s address. The offender apologised for his actions, offering to pay for some minor damage to the victim’s car. At the conclusion of the meeting the offender purchased flowers for the victim’s wife as an apology.

The offender provided positive feedback after the meeting, stating that at the start of the process he did not feel it was needed, but after participating felt good and was very satisfied with the process.  The victim also provided positive feedback after the meeting, pleased that he had got to tell the offender how he felt. He felt that the Restorative Justice process was run in a professional manner.