Wednesday - January 14, 2009

Robbery trial collapses after judge finds victim ‘too believable’ .

I have had a very busy 24 hours and couldn’t even boot yesterday. Seems kind of strange having my life back. 

I did however manage to read three newspapers yesterday and two today.
I think I should quite reading them. They only send my blood pressure up.  Seems like people have managed to reach new highs (or should that be lows?)
in the stupid sweepstakes.

What have I misunderstood here?  Must be something that got by me.

The judge is afraid the jury will believe the victim rather then the evidence despite the fact that she was able to ID the bad guy.

So, the FACT that she could ID the robber was NOT fact enough.  ??  I have a problem understanding that.  The guy was in her car.

It’s really all too much for a simple mind to grasp.

Robbery trial collapses after judge finds victim ‘too believable’
A man accused of robbing a driving instructor has been found not guilty after a judge found that his alleged victim was ‘too believable’ in her evidence.

By Richard Savill
Last Updated: 9:23PM GMT 13 Jan 2009

Denise Dawson, 36, was given a £250 award by Judge Jamie Tabor QC, for her courage, and was praised by him for being “honest, utterly decent and brave”.

However, the judge said her identification of Liam Perks, 20, the man accused of robbing her as she gave a driving lesson, was not enough for the case to proceed.

The judge feared she might sway the jury in a case where the evidence fell short, and he directed that Perks, of Henbury, Bristol, should be found not guilty. He had earlier stopped the trial at Bristol Crown Court.

Judge Tabor said: “Denise Dawson was a particularly impressive witness because she showed courage, clarity of thought and was undoubtedly honest.

”The jury may lend more weight to her evidence than her facts allow. You cannot be sure she got it right ... had this been the Archbishop of Canterbury’s son, would I have allowed (the trial) to go on? The answer is no.”

After the case collapsed, Mrs Dawson said: “The judge was absolutely wonderful. He was fantastic, but I am not happy with the system. I feel Liam Perks got a better deal out of it than I did.”

She added: “I feel very upset. How much more evidence can I get? I cannot sit there with a camera.

”I positively identified someone from a video ID parade and was prepared to risk everything by going to court but it is still not enough.”

Mrs Dawson, who has two teenage children, was attacked as she took a driving lesson in Southmead, Bristol in December 2007.

Her student Jodie Dickinson, 26, was practicing hill starts when a gang surrounded her car.

The gang smashed her rear window with a brick, reached in and grabbed her Hewlett Packard laptop before running off.

Mrs Dawson, who still runs her driving school, chased him and asked for her computer back but he clutched it in his arms and walked away.

She then returned to her car after she spotted one of the youths rifling through her glove box. She was punched twice, and later identified Perks as one of the robbers, the court heard.

But when police later interviewed Perks he said: “I know I ain’t been involved in no robbery.”

Judge Tabor ruled that Mrs Dawson’s evidence alone was not sufficient for the case to proceed.

At the conclusion of the case the jury was told that Perks had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to burgle for his involvement in a gang which stole and sold on motorcycles and prestige cars.

He will be sentenced for that offence on a date to be fixed.

HERE COME DE JUDGE

Posted by peiper     on 01/14/2009 at 12:20 PM   
Filed Under: • Crime • Daily Life • UK •  
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