I think the basis of an appeal (in part) could be the seemingly lacking of taking things into account & then failing to look at the totality of the coincidences, instead accepting the defence ticking a box at every junction. The time between the court dates wouldn’t have helped matters. ‘Let’s try a serial offender but make it drawn out with huge chunks of time between court dates’.
My.post.in.12 weeks.will.follow.on.from.this.and you’ll.naturally.connect.that.with.this.remember.to.put.the.christmas.tree.up.
…………………..
Very succinctly put.
There is a wider picture covering many bases in prosecutions regarding offences covering many years from 2004 till 2017.
The court did not have the requisite skills to address them.
Having initially jumped on the wrong bandwagon the presiding judge didn't have the wit to jump off when the opportunity presented itself. And by by leaning too much on defence initiatives dismissing all the evidence in all five cases devalued her opinion at a stroke.
Snip
On Thursday morning she faced close questioning in detail about her previous court testimony and possible contradictions in statements given to police in Portugal, Ireland and Germany.
She said Portuguese police did not provide an official translator, she had to ask a friend to assist, in front of whom she didn’t want to explain all details.
...
Questioned about why she went public with her story, Ms Behan said she was inspired by hearing someone else talk on Irish radio about turning a different, difficult experience into something positive.
“I wanted other women to feel there was a safe place they could contact,” she said. “
I had nowhere, that was the reason why.”
She kept the details of the attack out of the radio interview
but the response – in particular calls to the Rape Crisis Centre – was so strong that Ms B agreed to a second, television interview on RTÉ's The Late Late Show.
In her second four-hour bloc of testimony, with further defence questions in the afternoon, Ms B became emotional at one point and asked for a brief break.
Hazel Behan (40) told court she feared for her life during ‘hateful, aggressive’ assault in Portugal 20 years ago
www.irishtimes.com
So she had to field invasive innuendo from the defence (nope she didn't 'sell' her story - she tried to use it for the common good and succeeded in doing so).
On another front she had to satisfy the interrogation of a very unsympathetic judge.
Perfectly possible that given the fact forensic evidence had been destroyed in Portugal possibly weakening the case - or possibly not given that not all evidence is forensic. But given the conduct of the trial throughout and in particular towards this witness, what level of confidence should have been placed in her opinions.
www.gbnews.com
www.braunschweiger-zeitung.de
