Hi, Sorry for posting such a deperessing message on my first time on here but really need some advice.. My boyfriend got into some trouble on Saturday night ( stupid I know) he hit another man there were other people involved and the man ended up with a broken leg and a cut eye. Anyway on Tuesday the police arrested my boyfriend and have detained him to appear in court Thursday morning.. I have since found out that a Denuncia has been made against my boyfriend. I have no idea how the legal system works here, will he be fined and released or sent to prison I am going out of my head with worry... please any advice would be gratefully appreciated..

Before he can receive any sentencing he will have to be found guilty, or admit guilt. You obviously know more about the situation than us....do you think guilty is the likely verdict? Does he have any mitigating circumstances? Do you know what he has been charged with? Was your boyfriend responsible for the broken leg or was that someone else in the group?

There is no "fixed penalty" for GBH/ABH/Common Assault/Affray or whatever it is that he has been charged with. Each case is judged on its own merits.

If you tell us a bit more about the circumstances we might be able to help a bit more regarding possible outcomes.

Might I suggest you contact the nearest consulate?

find a solicitor who speaks english to help. The deuncia is just a legal requirement before court proceeding can take place, it's basically a written complaint against someone.

Get yourself a solictitor pretty damn quick, or if you cannot afford one the court will appoint but that could take time. I don't want to get your hopes up, but I suspect he won't be held as Thursday should be a formality to present the charges.

What might be of interest to your case is to find out who the victim is. If it is any old Juan Smith, it should be a normal enough case. If it is a relative of someone rather important or influential in your town, then they will more than likely persue this from every angle they can.

In many cases like this, a cash settlement can make things disappear quite quickly.

What are you suggesting!?

He'll be moaning about loss of earnings (despite the fact that he may be on dole or he may be able to work anyway) and if a figure was reached that would be commensurate with that, you may find that the case will be dropped.

Also depends on exactly what he has been charged with.

Broken leg from a punch, pretty hard punch..........

Theres clearly more to this than meets the eye, who were the other people involved ?

Was the guy who was punched old, and broke his leg when he fell ?

Was it a group assault on this one person, resulting in the broken leg ? Violence more often than not is a group thing.

Who threw the first punch ?, from reading the original post it look's like it was your boyfriend, was it ?

Clearly the first place to go is a lawyer, and I would take advice about trying to bribe your way out this with a pinch of salt !

Also what are the Spanish law's on self defence (if that's what your claimimng), pretty sure they would be similar to British law's re reasonable force.

I think you need to give a far clearer, and truthfull account of what happened in ordeer to get the best advice on here, there' a lot of accumulated experience on this forum, and they can only help if your honest.

I think the best place for this discussion would be with a lawyer rather than on a public forum.

Spanish law can be harsh on any form of violance (more so than in Britain) so you need to make sure you say the right things and to the right people

Firstly Thank u all for your replies. To go into more detail the man who was hit is/was a friend he touched me inapropriately and my boyfriend saw red so hit him, the man then kicked my boyfriend and then my boyfriend hit him again and left.. there were 4 other lads that none of is know that saw the attack one of the men just ran up and started kicking the man who my boyfriend hit, I pulled this person away asking him what the hell he was doing but I think he was just a thug anyway he then dissapeared though I would know him if I saw him again. Then as i said before on Tuesady my boyfriend was arested I know for a fact that he did not break this mans leg but the man who was hurt is saying he knows there was another man involved but it was my boyfriend that broke his leg. Anyway he was in court this morning and I still have not heard anything after phoning just about everyone I can think of even the consulate.

Lot's of ambiguities in that post, first it was four people who joined in, then one.

Sure it wasnt your boyfriend mates ?

I think really you need to get to a lawyer, if your boyfriend was in court today, and you havent heard from him,he was most likely remanded in custody.

Have you given a statement to the Police, why havent you got a lawyer yet ?

her boyfriend would have been supplied with a duty lawyer for sure - and an interpreter if he doesn't speak spanish

Very definitely - I know this from the office!

one of my students is a duty lawyer locally - I checked with him