Whilst not Pompey related in any way, it is nevertheless intriguing. Will he get a fair trial away from Southampton ? Do you think he will make a fist of it and be raising a glass again afterwards,having a smashing celebration and remain a cut above the rest of his team, next season? Or should his mum start baking him a special cake with a surprise enclosure? http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/9074293.Striker_s_trial_to_be_outside_city/
Innocent to proven guilty - but its not boding well for him! "The striker was not in court yesterday to hear his barrister enter a not guilty plea on his behalf, after he was stranded on holiday. The 26-year-old’s easyJet flight home from Barcelona on Tuesday was cancelled because of an electrical storm, and there was no other available flight back to the UK until later yesterday." Sorry - a footballer flying Easyjet? If he did cause the actual bodily harm, and the fact that he has pleaded not guilty - he should be made an example of! Was there any evidence? CCTV? Witnesses who say it was him?
I wonder if this cake comes in stripes? http://blog.epromos.com/images/prison-break-cake-nail-file-promo.jpg
Why not fly easyJet? It's only Spain. There is the possibilty that he's saving in anticipation of not getting a paycheck for a while. On the topic of the court case, (why its posted here I don't know) if it was cut and dried, he would most likely have been advised to plead guilty. I certainly would, in that situation.
Win or lose the case we will still have him next season, I hope. His trial has probably been moved because of his fame as a Saint and the prosecution feel they will do better elsewhere.
My opinion is that he will go down for a short time. Evidence is pretty much common sense: -witnesses -CCTV footage -his wrist was in a cast -his mates have undergone trial for similar conviction linked to the same incident -and he nearly killed the man Common sense really :/ Will be gutted if he does go down though, has been a fantastic player for us but I think it is inevitable...
I hope you're never called for jury service. Hopefully the jury will listen to all the evidence presented and then the defence's arguements. They will then decide after weighing up that evidence whether he is guilty or not.If found guilty the judge will then decide the punishment.It strikes me as a better system than letting RLGB decide and then post his findings on a football forum.
Oh I agree too, obviously listen to the evidence first. See if anything interesting crops up which it normally does... I'm just saying the odds don't look to good for him based on the common sense of the incident itself. That was all LD
lol like any of us knows the evidence unless we were there. none of us knows **** about what happened.
This thread reminds me of my mate who was doing jury service. He told me that a pikey was accused of stealing from a building site. He said the evidence was flimsy at best, and when they retired to consider their verdict 11 of them thought him not guilty. When they asked the 1 guy who said he was guilty why he thought that when the 11 others were convinced he was innocent,the bloke replied "because he's a gypo". I just hope there's no Skates on Barney's jury.
Anyone who is seen to being giving a judgement on personal opinion instead of evidence is obviously a clown. If there is evidence proving that Barnard glassed this guy, and lets be honest, potentially causing him life changing injuries, then he should be sent down. However, and this is my opinion of everyone who is in the public eye (celebrity) and gets in trouble with the plod, they seem to have a special aura around them which they think is unbreakable. look at Steven Gerrard - captain of (arguably) one of the biggest clubs in the world - hit a guy, CCTV evidence, witnesses and the result a measly community service order. He went and coached some kids at football. Thats it. Having been on the end of a jumping, and being badly hurt and in hospital, and then seeing the guy who did it walk free due to not enough evidence - I say Barnard should be doing time. But i am biased (not because of what football club he plays for either).
i would agree that he should be sent down. but rumours are abound that there are lots of mitigating circumstances and he could possibly get away without a custodial sentence and maybe just get a suspended sentence
