Abuse victims ‘used as pawns’ in Legal Aid row
Afternoons off, trials axed, an entire day to swear in a jury and a dribble of convictions ...a typical week of justice in our so-called overworked courts
WOMEN’S groups in Scotland have expressed fury at a lawyers’ strike which threatens to delay justice for victims of domestic abuse.
Campaigners slammed the Scottish Solicitors Bar Association (SSBA) for using the ‘incredibly vulnerable group’ of women and children as pawns in a pay dispute with the Scottish Legal Aid Board.
The strike, due to begin tomorrow, revolves around the rate lawyers say they should get for the extra preparation work involved in defending people prosecuted under new legislation which made ‘coercive control’ a criminal offence.
Previously, the law focused on physical violence or sexual abuse, but the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 added other conduct, such as isolating someone from their family and friends or monitoring what they do, as an offence.
Those prosecuted under the law need a lawyer as they are banned from asking alleged victims questions at trial. Lawyers say the new cases are more complex to defend but their demand for a 50 per cent rise in Legal Aid fees was rejected by the Scottish Government.
The SSBA has now refused to take on new cases, halting prosecutions.
Dr Marsha Scott, chief executive of Scottish Women’s Aid, said: ‘We know domestic abuse cases are usually more complex than standard summary cases, and we agree that remuneration should be commensurate with that.
‘But we are disappointed that the SSBA uses this incredibly vulnerable group to make their point.’
Simon Brown of the SSBA said legal aid rates had barely risen in the past 20 years and the fixed fee system of around £250 per trial was no longer fit for purpose. He added: ‘If all you’re doing is adjusting for inflation the legal aid fee should now be almost £1,000.’
IT is the sort of case that is depressingly common in courts up and the down the country: a drunken bust-up, a punch thrown, someone left injured and scarred, and the authorities left to determine who is responsible and how they should be punished. Yet for all that the case of Her Majesty’s Advocate v Jonjoe O’Neill could be considered routine and unremarkable, it also vividly highlights how Scotland’s justice system is struggling in the aftermath of the pandemic.
Latest figures show that, after two years of closures and disruption caused by coronavirus restrictions, the country’s courts are facing an unprecedented backlog of more than 40,000 trials.
To see first-hand the consequences of this backlog, The Scottish Mail on Sunday spent a week monitoring proceedings at a ‘typical’ court.
Astonishingly, in the entire five-day period we spent at Dumbarton Sheriff Court, not a single trial was brought to a conclusion.
As well as whole courtrooms going unused, we also witnessed a part-time system where some courts simply ground to a halt at lunch time, with nothing at all happening in the afternoon.
But perhaps the most striking case to call was one in which Mr O’Neill denied assaulting a man in Campbeltown, Argyll, leaving him permanently disfigured.
Firstly, it highlighted the time it can take for cases to progress to court – with more than two years elapsing between the alleged incident in March 2020 and the jury trial which was scheduled to start last Tuesday.
Secondly, it showed the potential for delays with a full day spent selecting a jury – who were sitting almost 20 miles away in a cinema in Glasgow, thanks to ongoing public health precautions – then a whole afternoon wasted when a broken video link prevented a witness from giving evidence .
But more than anything it revealed just how much the courts are still haunted by the spectre of Covid-19. For when the accused started coughing, the whole trial was abandoned.
Amid fears of infection, Mr O’Neill was allowed to leave the dock, witnesses and lawyers were sent away from the court and the jury was dismissed from their remote cinema seats.
The trial was then rescheduled, with a date set for a new hearing in another six months’ time.
Last night critics warned urgent action is needed to get the court system back up and running.
Conservative MSP Jamie Greene has repeatedly pleaded for a full return to physical trials and said the Scottish Government admitted to the court service under Freedom of Information laws that ‘justice is no longer a priority’ in the most recent budget.
He said: ‘From a low number of trials taking place, victims being made to relive their traumas multiple times and apparent technical issues, it is clear that the court process simply isn’t efficient right now.
‘The Scottish Conservatives have repeatedly warned SNP Ministers about the scale of Scotland’s court backlog, which continues to top 40,000. Some victims are waiting years to have their cases heard.
‘Reducing Scotland’s court backlog requires immediate action and investment, but so far the SNP have been sitting on their hands.’
Dumbarton Sheriff Court is a grand stone building whose imposing Georgian architecture is in keeping with the seriousness of its function of administering justice across the towns of Dumbarton, Clydebank, Bearsden, Milngavie and Helensburgh. It is one of the 49 sheriff courts in Scotland and can hand out a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
While the most serious crimes – such as murder, rape and attempted murder – are dealt with by judges and juries at the High Court, it is the sheriff courts that deal with the bulk of offences.
Much of the business is conducted before a sheriff on their own, while the more serious cases are heard before juries.
Crimes can be anything from careless driving to serious assault.
With an already backed-up system, many victims of crime are waiting years for justice.
However, the pandemic exacerbated that with courts unable to accommodate the same number of people in buildings, as well as those involved suffering from or isolating as a result of Covid.
The latest statistics from the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service (SCTS) show there were 40,923 trials outstanding at end of March.
During the week spent at Dumbarton The Scottish Mail on Sunday found court business finished early on a number of days.
Not a single trial concluded and many didn’t even begin for one reason or another.
On Friday two trials began.
The trial was rescheduled with a date for a new hearing in six months
However, neither of them were completed.
The first was the case against Dylan McInally who was accused of breaching bail. The trial began at 11.45am but had collapsed by 12.30pm because there was an issue with the evidence.
Meanwhile in another courtroom, Jacqueline Hollywood’s assault trial began at 12.30pm.
However, the evidence was not finished before the end of the court day and the matter was postponed until July.
Although no trials were completed, the courts did successfully oversee a lot of other business including sentences, admissions, first appearances and pre-trial hearings. In one instance, a beauty salon owner admitted drink driving.
Kulraaj Purewal, 40, was caught with her Range Rover in a car park near her Bearsden salon and a blood sample showed she was twice the legal limit. She was fined and disqualified from driving for 18 months with the potential to reduce it if she completes a driving rehabilitation course.
In another court, David Jeffrey, 47, who had previously admitted growing cannabis in his Clydebank home was fined after the sheriff was told about the circumstances of the offence.
Later in the week, 24-year-old Alan Halliday admitted driving while having five times the legal limit of cocaine in his body and was disqualified from driving for 18 months and fined £600.
One man was shown compassion by a sheriff who admonished him when he admitted breaching bail conditions not to approach a former partner.
William Wright was arrested and spent a night in the cells after he allowed the woman into his home when she needed comfort following a cancer diagnosis.
Sheriff Sukhwinder Gill questioned if prosecuting the man was really in the public interest before bringing the matter to an end.
While many did accept charges levelled against them others who did not were given dates to return when they would go on trial.
As well as the huge backlog of around 41,000 trials in the system, statistics also show how just one in ten trials that commence actually hear evidence.
As courts lie empty, defence lawyers say that while the facilities may be there to accommodate matters, the ever-declining number of solicitors is a vital problem.
There are calls from politicians for extra funding and an ongoing battle between solicitors and the Scottish Government over more resources to help adequately staff courts and deal with the volume of cases in quick order.
Simon Brown of the Scottish Solicitors Bar Association said: ‘So many defence lawyers have left that work is spread thinly between those who remain and it’s not possible to cover as many cases in different courts.
‘If courts sit later or additional days are added there will not be enough lawyers to work them – with female lawyers being particularly affected. It’s just not financially possible because the rates of pay are so low.’
The SCTS defended its record, pointing to official figures showing that 52,000 trials had been called last year.
Meanwhile, a spokesman said that additional courts and remote juries were introduced in an effort to minimise disruption during the pandemic and ensuring justice continues to be served while Covid remains an issue.
The spokesman said: ‘In late 2020 early meetings between prosecution and defence were introduced, before a trial date is confirmed, to try to ensure only those cases which cannot be resolved by agreement, and which are ready for trial, will advance to the trial date.
‘The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service introduced the Criminal Court Recovery Programme in September to tackle the backlog which resulted from the Covid-19 pandemic.’
So many lawyers have left that between those that remain it’s not possible to cover as many cases