Anon post: Repercussions of victim skipping attacker's trial, Canada
It's a small town in modern-day BC, Canada. Someone tries to kill the protagonist, who escapes by the skin of his teeth and goes to the RCMP to file charges. The attacker was dumb enough to film everything and put it online, so there's no delay before he gets arrested. However, between then and the slated trial date--before the protagonist can even settle on a lawyer--he (the protagonist) is forced to skip town. (More people want to kill him and the only way to survive is to run away to Vancouver and blend into the crowd.) Being hotheaded and traumatized, the protagonist decides to wash his hands of the whole affair, not only not going back for the trial but not even phoning a lawyer, basically trying to pretend the whole thing never happened. My questions are: 1) What would happen to the protagonist? 2) What would happen to the attacker?
I presume that skipping a trial you called for has *some* legal repercussions, but Googling variations on "victim skipping attacker's trial" has gotten me a lot of contradictory answers: everything from the extreme-sounding "you can be forcibly brought to court to testify" to the mere "it bolsters the defence's case". Also, I've learned that the majority of victims who want to skip their attacker's trial are abused wives and girlfriends, which doesn't apply: protagonist and attacker are both male and they've barely spoken since high school. They weren't friends then, either, to say the least.
As a final note, the protagonist has... unsavoury... connections and could buy a favourable verdict, a new identity, or whatever else necessary if he felt forced to do so. However, despite being a hothead with unusual choice in friends, he's an idealist who would prefer to stay within the law if possible--especially since *he's* the one who got stabbed.
I presume that skipping a trial you called for has *some* legal repercussions, but Googling variations on "victim skipping attacker's trial" has gotten me a lot of contradictory answers: everything from the extreme-sounding "you can be forcibly brought to court to testify" to the mere "it bolsters the defence's case". Also, I've learned that the majority of victims who want to skip their attacker's trial are abused wives and girlfriends, which doesn't apply: protagonist and attacker are both male and they've barely spoken since high school. They weren't friends then, either, to say the least.
As a final note, the protagonist has... unsavoury... connections and could buy a favourable verdict, a new identity, or whatever else necessary if he felt forced to do so. However, despite being a hothead with unusual choice in friends, he's an idealist who would prefer to stay within the law if possible--especially since *he's* the one who got stabbed.