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'Year of hell' for mother charged after retrieving ball
Peter Dominiczak21.08.09
An innocent mother-of-four who was dragged through the courts following a petty row with a neighbour told today of her "year of torment".
Susannah Marmot, 42, was accused of attacking neighbour, George Louka, after going to get her son's ball back from his garden.
But a jury took just half an hour to clear Mrs Marmot after a three-day trial at the Old Bailey that cost the taxpayer more than £100,000.
The recorder, Rosamund Horwood-Smart QC, lambasted the Crown Prosecution Service for pursuing the case, saying it had "failed lamentably" and ordered it to pay the £14,600 costs of Mrs Marmot's defence.
Mrs Marmot today accused the CPS of "ineptitude" and described her ordeal - which included spending seven hours in a police cell - as "the worst year of my life".
The row erupted in October last year in St Margaret's Road, a quiet suburban street in Edgware. Mr Louka had confiscated a ball belonging to Mrs Marmot's son Joel, 11, after it rolled into his garden and the housewife went around to retrieve it.
When Mrs Marmot went to retrieve it, she said Mr Louka went into a rage, rugby tackled her and tried to jump on her back. But Mr Louka, a dustman, claimed she pushed him into a doorframe causing a cut to his face which needed 10 stitches.
He was described as an "Alf Garnett" figure who was known in the area for shouting obscenities at neighbours and repeatedly calling police to make allegations about them. But when police arrived they believed Mr Louka's version of events and arrested Mrs Marmot. She was later charged with causing actual bodily harm.
Although two judges urged the CPS to reconsider the case against her, Mrs Marmot still endured "12 months of horror" during which she feared she would be convicted.
She said: "It was the most horrendous experience. I was in shock and was shivering in the cells. It has been the worst year of my life. I have been in a state of shock for the whole of this year of torment. Our children really suffered. It took a long time for us to make it clear to them that mummy wasn't going to go to prison."
Her husband Joshua, 41, who runs a packaging business, today described the CPS's case against his wife as "woefully inappropriate". He said: "It's been like a bad dream for us. There have been lots of tears." A CPS spokesman said: "The CPS concluded there was sufficient evidence to authorise a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm against Mrs Marmot and it was in the public interest to do so owing to the severity of the injuries suffered by the victim."
He said the CPS is seeking advice as to whether to appeal the judge's decision to award costs to the Marmots.
Reader views (7)
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Cushy Posts for Slackers.
and they're the the ones I know. Over 2 U readers!
- Joannie, London, England
is this not a case of one persons word against another...so where is the proof of bodiy harm??..rightly I believe he can keep the ball wrongly she trespassed on his land...send them both back to the playground and let life continue.
- Clif, London
Jan: I take it you don't get much post? Or door-to-door charity collections? And presumably don't know your immediate next door neighbour by sight?
I daresay that the Family of Four has a really, really annoying habit of kicking balls into the neighbouring gardens. I daresay the reports that this man is well known for shouting and swearing at neighbours are true, too. If there was a local Bobby as there used to be he would know both parties quite well and would have gone round to give them both a stern ticking off and that would have been the end of the matter. Shouldn't this have been heard by a local JP? It's a bit disturbing that this case is being heard in the highest Crown Court in a room adjoining that where a man is trying to appeal his sentence for raping a 2 year old and killing her brother.
- Roz, France
CPS again...yesterday .0003p of electricity and now this...
Are they not accountable ?
- Philip, castres france
So, according to the story a man found a woman unlawfull and without permission on his property, she claimed she was retreiving a ball.
I don't know about you the only people I want on my properrty are the ones that I invite onto it.
The ball could have been thrown onto the land by the woman as an excuse to enter the property for some reason
There may be an ongoing neighbour dispute about something.
The property owner is being negativly described, my guess is that there may be some negatives about the ball throwing family as well.
On the whole I onsider that one cannot just wander into somebody elses land they need to ask permission, if that acces is denied that that is the end of the matter.
- Jan, London, England
Yet another example of the world being turned on its head: the Police and CPS spend thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money prosecuting an innocent mother whose alleged 'victim' is an abusive neighbour.
The Police and CPS must be held accountable for their actions.
I really do feel for this poor woman and her family and hope that they can now all get on with their lives without further bullying from the State.
- Jez, London
Labour's (in)justice system strikes again. What a perverted society we live thanks to the failed social engineering of a warped government.
And nobody is going to convince me this not a symptom of this governments ethos.
- Frank, Home Counties, England.
