Family brawl led to stairs fall tragedy

?Tragedy struck when a 53-year-old man tried to break up a brawl between his son and son-in-law at a Wolverhampton family gathering, a court heard.

Hans Gharu was totally paralysed when he broke his neck falling down stairs during the fracas and died in hospital three months later.

His 31-year-old son Rashpal Gharu and son-in-law Deenash Hans, aged 27, were both accused of assault following the drama at Rashpal's home in Chetwynd Road, Blakenhall on July 12, last year.

They were charged with manslaughter following his death in October. But both men have now pleaded guilty to affray.

They were given conditional discharges by Judge John Warner, who told them: "I think that this is an entirely proper and humane course to take that is also in the interests of justice.

You will have to live with this for the rest of your life."

Prosecutor Mr John Butterfield said a recent ruling in another case had led officials to "look afresh" at the evidence. He continued: "The family members would dearly wish for a resolution that did not require a contested trial."

Mr Butterfield said the widow of Mr Gharu had also been consulted on the matter in India where she is currently living before the decision was made to accept a guilty plea to affray.

The prosecutor added: "It is plain that there has been a high degree of suffering to the defendants and this punishment is quite separate from any punishment the court could or would visit on them.

"This is a tragedy for all concerned and we do not want to be blind to that. Consequently the pleas tendered are accepted."

Mr Peter Cooke, defending, said: "It is abundantly plain that these two men are not normally violent and they do not fight.

"There was a quarrel when, in drink, a row broke out between them. It escalated with the two brothers-in-law having a go at one another. There were tragic consequences when somebody attempted to intervene but they bear no criminal respons- ibility for the ultimate outcome."

No specific details of the fall were given to the court on Friday but the incident happened at the upstairs flat of Rashpul Gharu where he lived with his wife and a brother.

His father, sister and brother-in-law Deenash Hans of Woodstock Road, Handsworth, were visiting.

A row flared over an issue that remains unclear but spilled out onto the hallway at the top of a flight of stairs. Hans Gharu, a driver of D'Urberville Road, in Wolverhampton, then intervened in an attempt to calm things down and fell down the stairs.

He broke his neck and was left as a totally paralysed tetraplegic. He died at New Cross Hospital three months later after contracting pneumonia attributed to his broken neck. Det

Con Martin Pickersgill, who was involved in police inquiries, said after the case: "We are satisfied with the outcome."