now here’s some news
For anyone out there wondering why I’ve not been posting much lately, I must tell you I’ve often wondered myself, but I think it’s best explained by a restlessness and distractedness I’ve felt ever since, two months ago, I was informed of a mysterious, but very serious, accusation against me, the exact nature of which I sometimes felt everybody but myself was aware.
Well, the mystery of it has been resolved in the past few hours, at last. Upon visiting by request the Port Adelaide police station at 7pm last night, I was arrested and charged with rape and unlawful sexual intercourse. I’ve been released on $1500 bail on my own surety and am to make my first appearance in court on July 6.
I’ve been advised, by the police and by Sarah, to obtain a lawyer/solicitor. Sarah has spoken of Legal Aid. However, I well recall being way less than satisfied by the Legal Aid lawyer who represented me in a minor matter several years ago. The trouble with Legal Aid people, it seems to me, is that they’re overworked and underpaid, they spend the absolute minimum time with you beforehand, they tend to be pessimistic and conservative about outcomes (probably because they realise a better outcome requires more input, and they haven’t time for that) and they encourage you to follow the line of least resistance (‘if you plead guilty you’ll be sure to get off with a suspended sentence, and there’ll be less stressful court time for you…’).
Not that I think any lawyer with an ounce of intelligence or integrity would ask me to plead guilty on this one, but I suspect that they’d still go for a simple result - ‘let’s not get bogged down in the details, it’s your word against his, so it won’t be beyond reasonable doubt, ergo they can’t convict.’ This would be a poor relation indeed to being completely exonerated, and I want nothing less than that. Of course, I can’t afford a proper lawyer.
The way I see it, the only way I can be completely exonerated is if the fourteen-year-old plaintiff is brought, without coercion or pressure, that’s to say of his own free will, to admit that he’s told a ginormous porky, and that he’s sorry for all the pain he’s caused. Now, the likelihood of him doing that is perhaps less than zero, but that’s really what I must aim for, nothing less. This is the greatest crisis of my life, obviously, and it requires an appropriately sterling response.
Well, the mystery of it has been resolved in the past few hours, at last. Upon visiting by request the Port Adelaide police station at 7pm last night, I was arrested and charged with rape and unlawful sexual intercourse. I’ve been released on $1500 bail on my own surety and am to make my first appearance in court on July 6.
I’ve been advised, by the police and by Sarah, to obtain a lawyer/solicitor. Sarah has spoken of Legal Aid. However, I well recall being way less than satisfied by the Legal Aid lawyer who represented me in a minor matter several years ago. The trouble with Legal Aid people, it seems to me, is that they’re overworked and underpaid, they spend the absolute minimum time with you beforehand, they tend to be pessimistic and conservative about outcomes (probably because they realise a better outcome requires more input, and they haven’t time for that) and they encourage you to follow the line of least resistance (‘if you plead guilty you’ll be sure to get off with a suspended sentence, and there’ll be less stressful court time for you…’).
Not that I think any lawyer with an ounce of intelligence or integrity would ask me to plead guilty on this one, but I suspect that they’d still go for a simple result - ‘let’s not get bogged down in the details, it’s your word against his, so it won’t be beyond reasonable doubt, ergo they can’t convict.’ This would be a poor relation indeed to being completely exonerated, and I want nothing less than that. Of course, I can’t afford a proper lawyer.
The way I see it, the only way I can be completely exonerated is if the fourteen-year-old plaintiff is brought, without coercion or pressure, that’s to say of his own free will, to admit that he’s told a ginormous porky, and that he’s sorry for all the pain he’s caused. Now, the likelihood of him doing that is perhaps less than zero, but that’s really what I must aim for, nothing less. This is the greatest crisis of my life, obviously, and it requires an appropriately sterling response.
posted by Stewart at 5:06 am
2 Comments:
3 things that should be obvious:
-Legal aid won't hurt.
-What you do here and have done here could become evidence.
-If you're under a gag order you shouldn't be posting.
Thanks for the comments. Of course the Legal Aid stuff is up in the air, and I'm happy to take advice. Anyway I probably don't have a choice.
I'm very aware that anything I write here could be used as evidence and I'm very happy with that.
I'm not under any gag order as far as I'm aware. Presumably you have to be told if you're under such an order, and I've been told no such thing. However, I might just check it out.
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