Let rape victims testify away from court, says judge
VICTIMs of rape and sexual assault should not be expected to give evidence in court, scotland’s most senior judge said yesterday.
lord Carloway said his ‘ultimate objective’ was for victims to give filmed statements within 24 hours of an alleged attack.
He also said cross-examination should take place well before the trial – and away from court.
lord Carloway, lord President and lord Justice General of scotland, said the aim was to find the best way to get to ‘the truth’ – and admitted the present system was ‘particularly ineffective’.
But defence QC derek ogg said there were already ways of making the court environment more humane, such as protective screens or video links.
He added: ‘The hallmark of civilisation is a fair trial for the accused, not a presumption that because someone makes an allegation of sexual assault or rape they are telling the truth.’
Mr ogg warned of the danger to a fair trial of ‘making it as easy as possible’ for allegations to be put in front of a jury without being properly tested. He said: ‘The right of a defence to see their accuser and to challenge their accuser has been the way of it in all civilised societies for all time.’
But lord Carloway told BBC scotland: ‘The ultimate objective is to try to get a system in which, first of all, the complainer would get their complaint down as near as possible to the event. That would hopefully be, in many cases, within 24 hours of the matter being reported.
‘If we can get an account at that time it then becomes a question of using it within the trial process.’
He said cross-examination could take place after an accused person had made a first appearance in court but well before the trial.
But he admitted any changes would need ‘to look at crossexamination and where that would fit into the system’.
Three years ago lord Carloway oversaw a review of how evidence was gathered. His comments to the BBC follow on from those proposals.
The scottish Government is expected to publish draft proposals on evidencegathering for vulnerable witnesses next month.
The primary focus will be on pre-recording evidence for child witnesses. But ministers said they supported gathering early statements to minimise stress and trauma later.
lord Carloway believes specially trained police officers should film an alleged victim’s original statement and this would be shown to the jury – rather than the victim having to attend court.
He also said that, as early as possible, the defence would be able to cross-examine the victim on camera too.
lord Carloway, who has previously warned advocates about ‘protracted or vexatious questioning’ of alleged victims, said cross-examination would be under the direction of a judge. The filmed evidence would be stored in a ‘vault’ until being shown to a jury.
He added: ‘We have the ability to record what people do remember at or around the time of the event, so it is somewhat strange we are depending so heavily on what they’re asked in a court room months, sometimes years, later.
‘The review was designed to address that major problem we have of memories fading.’
A scottish Government spokesman said the system must be better at protecting victims and witnesses, adding: ‘Vulnerable adult witnesses deserve to know they will receive appropriate support when they give evidence in our criminal justice system.’
‘Particularly ineffective’