NQ - DV survivor. If your daughters dad has not been charged yet, then that is the first step. After charge (if) he would have an initial hearing, depending on plea, if not guilty a date would be set to hear the case. You may be asked to do a victim impact statement. You may be required to attend court to give evidence. You will be in the witness support area not the general waiting area, you can request a different entrance, you can also request screens when giving evidence. If found guilty and sentenced, you might be able to request a restraining order attached to the sentence. If he pleads guilty at the first hearing, you should still be able to request a restraining order attached to the sentence. In my area there is a court appointed IDVA from Womens Aid at court who deals with restraining orders, hopefully it will be the same for you. As to the child arrangements order, is the matter already before the court? If the GBH case goes to court the outcome should be considered by the family court regarding the CAO.

Paralegal- it sounds like he is still RUI (Released under investigation) if he was invited in voluntarily. The file will be prepared for the CPS which can take months to come to a decision. If they authorise a charge, will you be prepared to go to court? Have you provided a Positive statement (supportive of prosecution) In court you will be cross examined by defence and they will, naturally, plant seeds of doubt within their questioning to lead the jury to be too unsure to convict. They will essentially insinuate you are lying. If he pleads guilty, you will of course not have to do this. You have already provided statements etc and it sounds like the Police will not want more from you, unless the Crown ask for it. They may ask for Characyer references nearer the time to support what you are saying about the defendant. Essentially, this is still under investigation and until the CPS authorise a charge, it remains that way. If he was not arrested and subsequently bailed, he will not have conditions imposed on him. Given he is out and not on remand, the likelihood of this case being resolved before 2023 is unlikely, with the backlogs. The initial hearing at the Magistrates would be fairly quick. If this is a s18 GBH, it would be a Crown Court matter. If it is a s20, it would be up to the Magistrates Court to accept or deny jurisdiction. Dependent on this, the defendant can request to be tried at the Crown Court. All of this takes time. Given that this is only 4 months old, you have a long wait. Hope this helps.