
Solicitor at Horsman Solicitors Limited
Josie Sonnessa
Solicitor
SRA ID: 354198
Josie Sonnessa is a Associate with Horsman Solicitors Limited. They have 19 years' experience in the areas of Crime/ Criminal Defence working as a solicitor.
163 Malling Street, BN7 2RB
Licensed for 19 years
Practice Areas
Crime/ Criminal Defence
3 Client Reviews
Overall experience
- Value For Money
- Approachability
About Josie Sonnessa
Josie Sonnessa is a Associate with Horsman Solicitors Limited. They have 19 years' experience in the areas of Crime/ Criminal Defence working as a solicitor.
Languages Spoken: English
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Factually Wrong
That review by Skye is wrong, she has Horsman Solicitors mixed up with a different firm.
We did not represent her at the Police Station or the Magistrates Court.
Legal aid was transferred to my firm on the 17/9/2024 for a hearing the next day, which resulted in the charges being dismissed against her.
Lawyer named in this review: Josie Sonnessa
Was this review helpful? Yes
Lifeless solicitors
I have mixed feeling about these solicitors. If I could rank 2.5 stars I would. It started with me At the police station. Where I had met Kim who does the police station.she was too busy and not very bothered about my case. She rushed through everything barely got to know me or my back ground . And didn't even look at me. She suggested I say no comment to everything which I felt hurt my case as I had nothing to hide and an explanation to what I did.
I felt like she did not have my back. She looked at my charges and said well your screwd and getting remanded instead of trying to reduce the charges which probably would of happened if she did not rush everything or had a care in the world about me or my case. which I felt was very daunting, I started crying as this is the first time this happend to me. She then became friendly but still very un professional. (Won't go into details)
Police decided to hold me in custody untill court. I was confused and worried to why ( I have mental health issues and was on medication ) and she didn't have the care to explain why. She said my colleague at court will go through things with you in the morning.
Court came. Andy seemed alright but everything felt rushed he did his best to defend me in court but unfortunately had a very bad judge. Andy explained to me that the judge thought I was going to do something unrelated and far worse to my charges, which I found to be a very odd and strange thing for a judge to think or even say ........ (Maybe he didn't)
I got remanded to prison that very same day, eventually to horseman's credit managed to bail me out after 3 and a half weeks. Through this process the communication from my solicitor Josie was minimal. And I had to initiate all of the phone calls. If I did not have credit to call I doubt I would of gotten bailed as she needed me to ask for it. ( Ofc someone in jail wants to get bailed). On bail it was mostly me initiating e mails and phone calls. There was no comfort or a sense of care and i have your back. From Josie and the people i have interacted with horseman solicitors.
At court I had to look for my barrister, and again had to go out my way to ask my solicitor how to find her. I didn't even know my barrister ls name. Again this is my first time with this sort of court and had no guidance I felt like I was more of a burden to these solicitors rather than them wanting to help and defend me.
In summary
+ They bailed me (shouldn't of been in jail first place )
- poor communication
-lack of I got your back bro let's crush this
- too rushed lack of care
I really do not know if I should suggest these solicitors. But my overal experience was not positve.
Lawyer named in this review: Josie Sonnessa
Was this review helpful? Yes
Awful Firm That Kept On Harming My Defence
This firm is awful. They have harmed my defence four times. Due to my case being one-sided and everything going wrong where I feel it's going to get worse, my solicitor I had me to plead guilty when I'm innocent. He told me pleading guilty would avoid a trial and I thought that would at least make things easier. Then I noticed some things in the Proof Of Evidence that one of the other solicitors wrote to make me sound guilty with two things that I believe is unprovable theories that should be dismissed as evidence because it's hearsay. After all the times I told that solicitor about me being innocent and the times and ways I explained my innocence, she went behind my back to the CPS to try and file a restraining order against me and she made me sound guilty to the CPS so she harmed my defence twice. Then another solicitor there got me to plead guilty when I'm innocent so he harmed my defence as well. Then when I realised that Proof Of Evidence is hearsay and not evidence, I decided to change my plea back to not guilty. The solicitor in change told me for me to change my plea I'll have to find another solicitor from another firm so I decided to do that seeing that my defence has been harmed three times by the firm at that point. I told the same to my solicitor when I sacked him and he kept butting in with rudeness even when I couldn't answer a question that he asked me. After I was no longer with Horsman Solicitors, I'm having major problems finding another solicitor from another firm because so many Legal Aid defence solicitors don’t want anything to do with a case where the accused has changed their pleas back to not guilty. Interesting the one that owns the firm and my solicitor never warned me of how difficult it can be to find another solicitor from another firm at this stage. This is the forth time that firm has harmed my defence because if I don’t get another solicitor in three weeks I'm going to get sentenced for a crime I didn't commit where I could also get sentenced to prison for a crime I didn't commit. My Dad is so worried sick with stress, this is making him unwell as well as me and we both have life-threatening health problems where my Dad could have a fatal heart attack and I could have a fatal epileptic seizure or a bigger next time all because of Horsman Solicitors. When I e-mailed the one that owns the firm he never had to decency to answer for himself. These solicitors are supposed to help people, not harm our defence as if they joined forces with the ones that got their clients arrested. Stay well away from this firm because they will mess you right up. At the moment I'm left without a solicitor now no thanks to Horsman Solicitors. They could have warned me first how difficult it would be to find another solicitor. They made it sound as easy as changing energy suppliers.
Lawyer named in this review: Josie Sonnessa
Was this review helpful? Yes