Legal aid system needs overhaul
‘The public have forked out over £131,000. Why should the burden be on taxpayers? Who looks after the families?’
ON ONE side you’ve got a grieving dad who is angry that the teenager who killed his son received £62,000 in legal aid to try and get off with it.
Then there’s the thug who, despite being a convicted killer, still deserves his right to legal representation.
But it’s hard not to side with Shaun Woodburn’s dad Kevin – particularly when Mohammed Ibnomer, who attacked his son and caused fatal head injuries, is making another bid for early release from prison.
It looks like the legal system is stacked in Ibnomer’s favour.
He applies for legal aid and gets it and is now being allowed his third chance at early freedom.
Meanwhile, it’s Kevin who faces a lifetime without his beloved son and wondering if justice is being properly done.
He makes the good point that no one steps in to help the families of victims when they suffer financial hardship due to crime.
The legal aid system needs a complete overhaul in terms of its priorities and use of cash because, at the moment, the only people truly benefiting are the lawyers.
Shaun’s dad hits out at system as son’s evil killer launches new bid for freedom
Criminals waste time and money at the taxpayer’s expense
THE killer of Shaun Woodburn was granted legal aid worth almost £62,000 – paid for by the taxpayer.
Mohammed Ibnomer, who is making his third bid for freedom next week, attacked Shaun, 30, in the early hours of January 1, 2017.
The dad of one died from catastrophic head injuries following the incident outside Gladstones pub in Leith, Edinburgh.
Ibnomer, who was 16 at the time, and his two co-accused racked up legal bills totalling more than £131,000.
Mohammed Zakariyah, then 19, was cleared of murdering Shaun but admitted two assaults and a breach of the peace during the rampage that led to Shaun’s death.
Instead of detention, he was ordered to do unpaid work in the community and be supervised by social workers.
His legal aid bill, released to Shaun’s dad Kevin under freedom of information laws, was £41,505.
The defence for Marcus Brown, who was charged with murder but then cleared of all charges, cost £28,293.
The cost is only for their defence from the time they were arrested in January 2017 through to the end of the trial in November that year.
Last night, Kevin, who has campaigned for victims’ rights since his son died, said: “It’s staggering the public have had to fork out over £131,000 for this.
“I understand that everyone is entitled to their defence in court but this seems to be an excessive amount of money awarded to their lawyers.
“Victims’ families suffer hardship because of criminal acts and they have to fund themselves. Nobody steps in to pay when you’re having to take time off work through grief or, indeed, when it’s time for court.”
He added: “Criminals seem to be able to waste time and money on appeals or changing their legal teams as Ibnomer did, all at the taxpayers’ expense.
“These amounts speak for themselves and it’s time there was another look at legal aid in Scotland. Why should the burden be on the taxpayer when people commit crimes?
“Again it’s all stacked in the accuseds’ favour. As I have repeatedly said, criminals do wrong and are looked after. Who cares about the victims and their families?”
Ibnomer is expected before the parole board next week after his last bid in January was put back for reports.
Kevin wrote a heartbreaking letter to justice chiefs begging them to make him serve out his full four-year sentence.
In December 2018, the parole board refused his application for early release – but Ibnomer was entitled to another hearing to try to get out early.
Kevin doesn’t believe Ibnomer has been truly rehabilitated or shown any remorse for killing Shaun.
He said if Ibnomer was truly remorseful, he would have found a way to reach out to the family and tried to apologise.
The Woodburn family, supported by the Record, have been campaigning for reforms to the justice system and have won changes to protocols surrounding multiple post mortems on victims of crime.