Aw, smac I'm feeling the love!
All I can say is my absence (and the lack of my usual address to everyone who has posted... ever, in this post) is due to my exhaustion. I'm happy to do my civil duty but I guess jury duty could have come at a better time. Like, at least a year ago when I wasn't even ttc and it would have been a doodle!
Hats off (I don't actually have a hat, but if I did...) to those of you still working and managing to post anything coherent!
So, my second case just finished today when we returned our majority verdict.
Another sexual assault case. I'm not sure if they ('they' being the Powers That Be in the judicial system) have been spying on my earlier posts pre sex ban and matched me to cases according to my personality. Wait. I sound really paranoid now! :p Anyway, as judgement has been passed I am now free to tell you about it.
So, this time, it was even more of an 'uncomfortable' case, despite the fact that the actual offense was 'minor' compared to my last case. This time, it was touching over clothes in the (her words) 'private parts' area. For about 30 seconds.
What makes it particularly 'nasty' was the senario. She was 17. He was 62. He is the step father of her best friend and had offered to take her for a drink when she was at a loose end one evening which she accepted (in her naivety?) as 'it was xxxx's dad, he's a normal bloke, it seemed normal'.
Ok. Is it then normal to ask her if she's ever tried sherry before, and when she answers in the negative (hmm, not sure many 17 year olds even know what sherry is, let alone if they've tried it!) he tells her he has some at home she can try? Maybe...
So he takes her back to his place. There is only a small two seater settee so they have to sit side by side (thighs/arms touching, obviously, as the settee is so small). He gives her the drink. (oh, I should mention he knows she's underage). He asks if she wants to watch a film and she asks what? He says 'You like dirty things, don't you?' and she thinks this is odd and says no. So he shows her a case that says 'Dolphins and Elephants'. She thinks it's something innocuous so it's agreed they'll watch it. It's hardcore porn. She is extremely uncomfortable and unsure how to react.
It goes on, there's inappropriate talk from him of a sexual nature which she, unsure how to react, is trying to bat away by changing the subject. She says she wants to go, but he says he's over the limit to drive so she'll have to stay. She insists she wants to go to her boyfriend, but he agrees eventually to take her home.
Not before he has rested his hand on her thigh for some '2-3 minutes' which she eventually asks him to move, to which his response is to move it up to her 'private parts' at which point she freezes in shock for a while (says it could be 30 seconds or so) before taking his hand away herself.
There were lots of other elements to it, and admittedly, there were some small inconsistancies in her testimony (which was the basis of the crown's case and as such, the only 'evidence'). But, I felt that despite the small inconsistancies, she was a reliable witness and in that sense I felt comfortable enough to find him guilty. Eight others on the jury agreed with me, the ninth initially was unsure but then decided he was happy to return a guilty verdict. The final two resolutely refused to consider a guilty verdict. One guy because, for him, the inconsistancies in her testimony meant he felt she wasn't a reliable witness. You can't really argue with that. But the final guy - ugh, it was kinda maddening! His reason for 'not guilty' was that there was no evidence. When asked what he would consider evidence, he kept reiterating 'an independant witness'. He couldn't seem to grasp that in a case where one person makes an allegation, and the other denies it, then although burden of proof is with the prosecution, testimony IS evidence. Whether you believe it or not comes down to how reliable you find the person giving testimony to be. I put it to him that in this, and many cases of sexual assualt, there are no witnesses to the crime, so does that give carte blanche to anyone who wants to perpetrate such an act because there is no evidence other than the word of the person making the allegation? 'Well... it's just not proof is it?'
Ok, so if it's your Mum, sister, daughter whom has been sexually assualted, do you say to her it's not happened because there is no physical evidence or independent witness?
He doesn't actually answer this... but still looks unconvinced.
Gah!
So, eventually we were able to return a majority verdict rather than unanimous. At that point, his previous convictions come out. Starting in 1977, indecent exposure. Again in 1979. In 1984, two convictions of sexual assualt involving minors. In 2004 FOUR convictions of more indecent exposure/sexual assualt.
At this point, you'd think one's reaction would be 'thank goodness, we appear to have come to the correct verdict' but my throat kinda constricted and my heart sank. I'm still not sure why I had that reaction... I think it might be because I allowed myself to overlook small inconsistancies in her testimony because, ultimately, I believed her (and, so, found her credible) but could have easily decided the inconsistancies were unacceptable and argued against her credibilty. I think it's that we seem to have been right in convicting him, but could have easily got it wrong. Which also bought last weeks case to the fore of my mind. Along with all the other times in courts across the country every day where juries are getting it 'wrong'. I guess I'm just oversensitive right now with all the pregnancy hormones/tiredness and the burden of sitting in judgement over people feels heavy.
I apologise for waffling on - I said all this and more on the phone to DP when I came out (words just kept pouring and pouring out of my mouth!) but expressing it is helping me process it, I think. Thanks
I have to be back at court even earlier than usual tomorrow so haven't been dismissed yet despite thinking I would be... I really hope I can catch up properly at the weekend. Big un mn-like hugs to you all