No one likes a paedo.
Well no one does, do they? But imagine how horrendous it must be to be falsely accused of abusing someone under 16.
False accusations do happen. It’s difficult to understand why someone would make up such an allegation and maintain the lies up to and through a trial in front of a jury but the fact is some people do.
The reasons for their lies can be many and varied – be it revenge, or to deflect attention from their own wrongdoing or maybe because someone else has convinced them something untoward has happened in their past – usually an ill qualified psychologist or psychiatrist.
The problem in defending these cases is that it quite often it boils down to one persons word against another – the accuser against the defendant. The need for corroboration of sexual assault allegations was abolished some years ago and with it the balance of justice tipped away from the Defendant in many cases.
The Crown Prosecution Service and the Police are now reluctant to use any method of questioning or challenging the alleged victims account at any pre charge or pre trial stage no matter how questionable the allegation. Accordingly cases of sexual abuse allegations simply proceed to trial off the back of a police video interview conducted in what can only be described as, and is deliberately meant to be, a cosy , non challenging environment. We hesitate to use the word mollycoddling but the fact of the matter is Child Protection Unit Officers are so entrenched in their view that false allegations are never made that very often the first mention of the possibility that an accusers version of events may not be accurate is by the Defence Barrister at trial .
Without proper defence work cases are simply left to chance with the particular jury selected where, if they don’t like the look of the Defendant , even an innocent man can be convicted.
It is necessary to scour every inch of the allegation – the devil’s in the detail. The tiniest facts given by an accuser need to be verified for any inaccuracy. Any aspect of the accusers account needs to be exploited to demonstrate falsification.
Historical abuse allegations present their own difficulties as potential witness’s for the defence are often dead or untraceable, locations will have changed or altered and can no longer be evidenced to the court to undermine allegations and a medical examination is often pointless.
Applications for 3rd party disclosure, for example from social services, can generate valuable material however the Courts and County Council legal teams increasingly put up barriers to such requests regrettably quite often with the assistance of the Crown. The fallacy of the fishing trip objection has now been taken to a ridiculous and dangerous degree. Let’s face it if the Defence knew the exact detail of the matter they wish to be disclosed they wouldn’t need to go to Court for an order, would they?
However with perseverance and tenacity from dedicated experienced Lawyers justice can be achieved. Ashcott Criminal Defence Solicitors won a case last week which was effectively the word of an individual against their step grandparent . Through detailed analysis of the allegations, made unchallenged in a 3 hour Police Video Interview , including site visits by the Ashcotts legal team, obtaining expert medical evidence and making numerous disclosure applications which generated material for use in cross examination Ashcotts Criminal Defence Solicitors were able to ensure the case was not solely left to the chance of whom the jury liked the look of the most and major inroads were made into the veracity of the allegations made.
Will Southcott Solicitor outlined, ‘We had to put a lot of work into the Defence , above and beyond the norm. However the material we got, when put in the hands of an experienced senior Trial Barrister, namely Stella Massey of Central Chambers, ensured justice for our Client. We as a firm will continue fighting for justice, no matter what the allegation, for Clients we believe in.’
