Daniel's experience

A fight spilt out onto the road until a 17 year old dropped to the ground. The attackers ran away leaving Daniel as the only person around. Daniel ran away too, but told a woman nearby that there was somebody on the floor not moving, leaving them to call an ambulance whilst Daniel disappeared.

The next day it was revealed that the boy had been stabbed multiple times with a knife and was seriously injured (this is assault). Daniel was identified as a witness during police investigations, where he was put in a position of having to reveal who the attackers were. Then the case went to court.

Daniel did not want to be involved and ran away from the crime. He thought that if he called the police, he would be labelled a grass and the attackers would know who he was.

Daniel was scared and did not want to talk about what happened. When his mum first called You & Co he said he could take care of himself, but he didn’t know what would happen next. 

A police officer explained what the next steps would be, but Daniel didn’t understand a lot of the information and didn’t know if he could trust the police. Daniel agreed to speak to You & Co and his young witness worker helped him to understand how the police could help and what would happen next.

The young witness worker arranged a pre-trial visit, where Daniel was shown around the court before the trial to see what it was like and to ask any questions. Daniel was worried about being in the same room as the attackers when he gave his evidence, so his young witness worker arranged for him to give his evidence from a separate room in court through a TV screen called live link.

After the trial, Daniel was worried about keeping safe in his area, so his young victim’s worker helped him develop a safety plan so he knew how to keep safe in his area, and who to call in an emergency. Daniel now knows how to get help if he doesn’t feel safe.