Teenage rape trial highlights trauma of giving evidence twice

[IwantToRetire]

The rise in child-on-child sexual violence is putting scrutiny on the youth court system, where victims may be cross-examined twice about their ordeal

When 13-year-old Abigail learned she would need to give evidence in court for a second time, she wept in frustration. Testifying the first time had left her physically sick and unable to sleep. But after the teenage boy who raped her appealed his conviction, she was forced to confront the prospect of recounting the crime once more at a new hearing.

Full article at https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/teenage-rape-trial-highlights-trauma-of-giving-evidence-twice

And at https://archive.is/c41DO

Bad enough for any girl/woman regardless of age.
Things need to change quick style
These scenarios can't be allowed to continue.
Fair trials yes.
But not harrowing ordeals for the above xx times.

That's not unique to youth court, it's how all appeals against conviction work.

Essentially, the entire trial is rerun, not just the bits that resulted in the appeal being successful. At least that how it works with convictions in magistrate's court.

It's absolute shite for the poor victims.

I think the point of the article is to show some sort of empathy for a female child.

Its not a competition.

Well pardon me if I show some sort of empathy for ALL victims of the appeal system, following an article which appeared to be suggesting that this is unique to youth courts.

They aren't claiming it is unique.

They are showing the impact on under age girls.

Who I think most of us would think are not the same as adult women.

That's madness! I was attacked as a teenager and had to speak in court, but what they did was film me explaining what happened and show it in the room while I sat in a separate room, they then had me go live on the tv to ask questions. They made sure I didn't have to be in the room or see the people I was talking about. And that was for battery, not anything sexual. The fact that this isn't the bare minimum for all victims is nuts to me

I think she had a bad lawyer if they didn't ask for and manage to obtain the same for her. It's still awful that she would have to do the TV part again.

So sorry for what happened to you.

And so sad to see that victims of male violence cant even rely on the court process to be correctly applied.

This is unique to youth court trials.

Adult trials are held in crown court in front of a jury and appeals are almost always a matter of consideration by a judge, witnesses only being reheard in the rare cases of a retrial being ordered.

Youth court is not in crown court in front of a jury, it's in a magistrate's court in front of a judge. In the case of a guilty verdict there is an automatic right of appeal to have the case reheard in full in a crown court.

This does not fit with my experience., are you talking specifically about rape trials?

Adult trials are mostly held in front of a bench of 3 magistrates, not crown court in front of a jury.

Youth is held in a crown court if the offence is too serious for magistrates, I've been on the bench committing youth to crown court when it was too serious for magistrates to deal with.

I have actually sat on magistrates court appeals against conviction and they reran the whole trial.

Yes, I'm talking about rape trials. This thread is about rape trials and the trauma victims go through giving evidence.

Adults should not be tried for rape at magistrates court as it's indictable only. Appeals from conviction at crown court are not automatically accepted. Most are disallowed, those that go through to a hearing are are heard by a panel of appeals court judges and where they are either denied, conviction quashed or, in a minority of cases, a retrial is ordered.

Youth tried for rape generally shouldn't be dealt with entirely in the magistrate's either because it's a "grave" crime but some are for various reasons (nearly 200 last year, according to the article). When those convictions are appealed the appeal is automatically accepted and held as a retrial in crown court.

I didn't think your reply was clear for people, it was not clear that you were talking only about rape.

Than you for clarifying that.

I can assure you there is no shortage of empathy from me for a child victim having to suffer a second trial.

The whole thread is about rape trials. You're the only one who seems to think other crimes are relevant to the discussion.