A woman who claimed a taxi driver sexually assaulted her at knifepoint in his cab has been jailed after he used a recording application on his smartphone to expose her lies.
Hurrah, yes? Well, no.
And
here's why:
He was stripped and spent a day in a cell until officers eventually listened to the recording and discovered Berwick was lying.
He said: ‘They took everything from me, including my clothes, and I was crying in the cell. I told them there was a recording on my phone – I was saying “please check it”.’
‘My son is 14 and my daughter is eight. They were crying when I came back and were asking why I had been arrested.
‘The police raided my house and searched my taxi looking for the knife which she says I used to cut her with.
‘She really has turned my life upside down.’
This is unacceptable. The police have GOT to stop arresting and processing as a matter of course.
In such matters you have to act quickly to prevent the loss of valuable forensic evidence. (This is in the interests of victim and accused if he had not had the recording this may well have enabled his defence to show he had no case to answer) Lets just suppose that the allegation had been correct would you have still have used your last sentence.
ReplyDeleteA family friend recently lost his wife - she was elderly and fell down the stairs - the fall killed her.
ReplyDeleteThe only history they have with the law is that he is a retired police officer. They have never been investigated over domestic issues or similar. But he was arrested while the police investigated the circumstances of her death.
He's now been put on unpaid suspension at work because he works with elderly people, and the company are wary - they can hire dozens of people who've never been arrested, so why risk keeping one who has ? His December vacation will at best cost him hundreds of pounds extra as he will have to travel to London to apply for a US visa now, and at worst, be lost completely due to this arrest.
The process of arresting everyone and sorting it out later is madness. But if you want a real laugh, write your MP about it - they'll explain in great detail why nearly everyone the police come into contact with are flight risks and at risk of moving from a single incident to a rampage if not immediately arrested. I followed up pointing out that the courts let loads of people who are actually guilty of bad things out every day (community sentencing, etc.) so why can't we let innocent people stay free until we prove they're a problem. The answer to that was equally bullshit.
A substantial payment in compensation might go a long way to help. To be recovered from the malicious
ReplyDeletecalumnist, over time, if necessary.
"The process is the punishment"-there you go, I said it first.
ReplyDeleteJaded
@Anonymous
ReplyDelete"Lets just suppose that the allegation had been correct"
What an odd choice of wording. How about "true"?
Was what you say politely explained to Mr Asif, I wonder, or was he in fact treated like a criminal?
The larger scandal is of course the contrast between the 16 months she got and what he'd have got if convicted. Can't blame the police for that.
"In such matters you have to act quickly to prevent the loss of valuable forensic evidence. "
ReplyDeleteWhat 'forensic evidence'? She probably had more male DNA on her than the average fertility clinic!
"But if you want a real laugh, write your MP about it ..."
I wouldn't waste the paper & ink... :/
"A substantial payment in compensation might go a long way to help. To be recovered from the malicious
calumnist, over time, if necessary."
He probably won't live long enough to see the end of the payments!
"The larger scandal is of course the contrast between the 16 months she got and what he'd have got if convicted. Can't blame the police for that."
Nope, that one's laid to the CPS and their masters.
Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteIn such matters you have to act quickly to prevent the loss of valuable forensic evidence.
The evidence wasn't going to be lost as he sat in a police station while the cops checked his mobile. They searched his house and taxi, stripped him but left checking his phone, something that would have taken a single officer a couple of minutes, until last?