I thought I might apply a bit of statement analysis to this little bit of text, Tostee talking to his dad in the car.. I feel this is important group of words, as it here we can see a cover story evolving before our eyes. His father is the FIRST person he needs to convince of his innocence, but he hasn't had more than an hour or so to create his story, and no-one else to sound it out on.
For the sake of brevity I have colour coded the sources of the information as follows:
Mark McClish, statement analysis expert.
Peter Hyatt, statement analyst from TrueJustice.org
Ausgirl, suspicious webslooth and general know it all.
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Pre-Warriena Terrified Balcony Girl
"She’s small so I go to hug and lift her up and take her inside from the balcony but she totally freaks out, mumbles something about getting back to her parents and bolts out the door. Deletes me off both Tinder and FB. Maybe I acted too abruptly and snapped her out of her little lust-trance by manhandling her.”
When people use present tense language, it is an indication they are making up the story. Truthful people will rely on their memory as they tell us what happened. This will cause them to use past tense language. Since deceptive people are not searching their memory but are making up the story, present tense language may creep into their statement.
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Warriena
3.23.13am:
We were both drinking and
I think that she thought that it was like a joke or something and she kept like beating me up
and whatever. It was cos she was really drunk
and whatever and I like
forced her out on the balcony and
I think that she might have jumped off.'
Liars have a difficult and stressful task of recalling what stories they have told and by adding “perhaps” and “maybe”, they are able to later defend their inconsistency.
I think" can also mean it may not have happened. "Sort of" means it kind of happened.
When a person says he "thinks" he is telling us there is an uncertainty in his answer. There is a chance that what he thinks is not true.
....language that is noncommittal. Words or phrases such as: "kind of," "I think," "I thought," "I don't know," "about," "like" and "sort of." We cannot believe something happened unless the person tells us it happened.
The repeated use of "and whatever" implies to me an act of glossing over details he does not wish to elaborate on. To me, this points to a lie of omission.
Why did he feel impelled to point out that "we" were "both" drinking, when "we were drinking" would have done. The word "both" stands out here to me -- from the rest of the recording, we know Warriena was much more drunk than Tostee, and that he kept pouring strong moonshine for her, which she kept saying she didn't want. I think it's important to Tostee that he establishes himself as quite drunk, to later support his "I don't remember" statements.
Male: '
I didn't cause this, like I didn't push her.
Male: this is not my fault ...
I don't know, like I tackled her on my floor inside the building and I
never forced her over the balcony.'
Everything a person says has a meaning. There is a reason why a person mentions something or why he phrases it a certain way.
In an open statement, the subject should only report what he remembers. When a person states that he does not remember something, he is telling us that he remembers that he does not remember! This is a strong indication the subject is withholding information.
The word “never” does not mean “no.” Therefore, you cannot substitute the word “never” for the word “no” which is something deceptive people like to do.
When you are accused or suspected of having done something, the use of the word "never" is a weak denial.
Tostee is clearly leaving room for future untruths here "I don't know, like..." precedes a more direct statement, undermining it, leaving it open to later change as he sees fit. It shows a non-committal to what he's saying.
Male: I swear to god I didn't push her,
I just chucked her out on the balcony and locked the door because she was beating me up.'
...deceptive people may try to convince you they are telling you the truth. They will sometimes do this by using phrases such as "I swear to God," "I swear on my mother's grave," "Honest to God," "Honestly" as well as several other phrases.
Male: what happened was we were drinking and we got into bed together then and after that she just kept drinking and she j
ust kept like I don't know she was just like beating me up. I was
just like tackled her in the middle of my apartment and I said that it wasn't funny anymore
and blah blah blah.
Then when I let her go
the last thing I remember was she was on the balcony
and I don't know if she jumped
or what, I don't know. It wasn't my fault, it wasn't my god damn fault.
3.51am: 'Why does this s hit always happen to me. I didn't ask for this. I wasn't doing anything wrong,
I just invited the girl over.
The more she drank ...'
Always note when an unreliable denial is coupled with a diverting accusation. It is critical for analysis. It weakens the unreliable denial even further.
Male:
Last thing that I remember was that
I tried holding her down
and she ran out on to my balcony.
Dr. Paul Eckman teaches that testifying to memory failure is almost always deceptive.
Oho, so by the end of this Warriena "ran out" to the balcony. ORLY. When two sentences ago, and for a few before that, she was being "forced" and then "chucked", and now she got there, he wants his dad to believe, under her own steam. So that's a blatant LIE, no analysis needed.
"Last thing I remember" is another LIE, if less easy to point to. But is he seriously sayign he remembers everything BUT the moment when she went over? He is trying to make himself absent from a crime scene at which he was VERY MUCH PRESENT.
Also note how the victim blaming gets more pronounced as he talks on and on.. Also, his priority of concern is evident -- It's all just happening to HIM isn't it. :no:
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I am sure there's a ton more to be said, and to be analysed, but yeah -- this is the dawning of all lies to come, so is of particular interest to me.
Mark McClish:
http://www.statementanalysis.com/
Peter Hyatt: http://.blogspot.com.au/
