Taxi Driver Online

February 29, 2008 Friday

Failed by the system

Daily Echo

After an alleged assault in the back of a taxi, failure by the CPS to forward woman's medical notes has seen the case against man accused of the attack collapse

A COURT has thrown out a case against a man accused of battering his girlfriend and biting her all over her body because of a blunder by the Crown Prosecution Service.

Sohayla Imanpour agreed to press charges against the father of her child after she was allegedly attacked in the back of a taxi.

He denied her claims and had pleaded not guilty to a charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

But a judge dismissed the case against Dean Wyeth after bungling prosecutors failed to produce the alleged victim's medical notes at court - despite being asked to produce them on three different occasions.

In his scathing criticism, Judge Christopher Leigh said there had been "lamentable conduct" by the CPS and said there had been "an abuse of process", adding "justice delayed is justice denied".

The Daily Echo understands that Mr Wyeth cannot face trial again for the matter, on any charge, for "procedural" reasons.

Red-faced CPS bosses say they have carried out an internal investigation but cannot find who was responsible.

A spokesman said: "They have looked into it as closely as they can. Clearly this is a human error but we cannot determine whose error it was."

Mr Wyeth, 24, was arrested and charged after allegations from Miss Imanpour, 21, that he subjected her to a vicious beating when they were in a taxi returning from a night out in Southampton last November.

As the car made its way towards Merry Oak, Miss Imanpour told police that a fight broke out that resulted in Mr Wyeth holding her down and biting her repeatedly across her body and hitting her about her face.

The driver called 999 and police responded immediately and found Miss Imanpour running along Merry Oak Road to her mum's house.

Ambulance

She was taken to hospital by ambulance and the following day she was taken to a specialist unit where she was interviewed about the alleged domestic violence and photographs were taken of her body.

The mum-of-one agreed to press charges and her boyfriend of four years was arrested and later charged with grievous bodily harm with intent.

However at a hearing on January 29, the CPS failed to produce the papers including the medical records and an order was made by Judge Leigh that all evidence must be served by February 11.

He said that their failure to do so would see the matter brought back before the court on February 14 when the defence would apply to throw out the case.

The latter happened and Mr Wyeth was formally acquitted and allowed to walk free from court. The victim was told of the news later that day.

Bosses at the CPS for south west Hampshire said an internal review has now been carried and admitted there had been a "breakdown in the system".

They have written twice to Miss Imanpour apologising for their error. In their second letter they say "despite exhaustive inquiries" it has been impossible to draw any firm conclusions apart from the fact the documents were not served upon the defence when they should have been.

The letter of apology from Ruth Bowskill, the district crown prosecutor, continued: "We recognise our service has been far from satisfactory in this case and we have now put in place safeguards which should ensure that the above does not happen in any other matter."

But the failures have angered Miss Imanpour who cried when she heard the case had been thrown out.

She said: "It was like everything was for nothing. I think it's disgusting that he will not face trial because someone has failed to do their job properly. I feel angry. I have been let down by someone else's mistake.

"It's a horrible feeling, like there is no way out."

Miss Imanpour, who has a panic alarm at her home where she lives with her baby daughter Caitlyn, claims she was left covered in blood and unable to see her child for several days because of her injuries.

"I had injuries all over my body including my nose. There was blood everywhere. I was wearing a cream skirt and remember looking down and it was pink. The taxi was full of blood, my hair was red from the bleeding. I looked a complete mess."

Miss Imanpour, a former Sholing Girls' School pupil, has been told by Ms Bowskill that they would be happy to attend a meeting with her but have offered no further explanation as to how the documents were mislaid.

Breakdown'

In a statement, Ms Bowskill, said: "We have investigated our performance in this case, and it is apparent that there has been a breakdown in the systems which are normally in place to ensure this type of occurrence does not happen. We recognise our performance on this occasion falls below the standards which we set ourselves.

"A review is currently being conducted by the CPS in south west Hampshire to ensure that lessons are learnt, and provisions put in place to prevent such a thing happening again.

"We can only apologise to Miss Imanpour for our failure.

"We would seek to assure the public that we take very seriously our commitment to victims of violent crime."

Mr Wyeth indicated that he was willing to comment, but despite repeated attempts by the Daily Echo to contact him, he has remained unavailable.
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