None of this is new though is it? Some can deal with fame, some cannot. The list of celebrities both male & female, who took their own life is long. Though not as long as the list of ordinary people who did the same. Its very sad, especially for the families, husbands or wives, & friends who are left behind, but far from unusual.
It’s worse for those who don’t court it. Some pouting, self-impressed twat who outs people for their bad habits in public by -hotels and videos on twitter and instagram on tv yesterday spouting how ‘if you do it in public, you should expect it to be commented on and shared’. Wanker needs a lesson imho. It’s nothing other than modern bullying on a scale unknown before SM bullshit.
I'm not going to comment on this individual woman. But I wish that the main stream media and the general public payed more attention to the many serving and ex-service men and women who have taken their own life due to untreated PTSD from our recent overseas wars. If you want to really understand sacrifice and pay respect, go the the National Memorial Arboretum and in a quiet corner you will see a sculpture of a human representing the people who have committed suicide due to PTSD. Spend 10 minutes contemplating the statue and what those people it represents went through in service of this fine country to make them take their own life. They are heroes, they are they people we should look up to. And the people still suffering effects years after the experiences that made others take their lives should be properly helped and supported. Not end up living on the streets and in trouble. That would be a sign of a country that really knew what its priorities are.
I was thinking today about this thread and I think we are really fortunate to have a forum, a place, where we can discuss many subjects at length and thanks to our moderators, safely on a whole.. I’m sure I can speak for us all when I say we are all guilty at times of saying or writing something which in hindsight we’ve thought to be wrong. I admit I’ve often deleted a post after a few moments contemplation.. it’s human nature to be inquisitive after all, even wild animals have to check out what’s going on etc.. I also confess that I once deleted my DF account because of a few painful comments received.. A few days later I guess I realised just how much the forum meant to me and went about rejoining .. We are so fortunate on here to be able to openly talk on so many different diverse subjects and not just Ducati’s which I think is great and clever of the creator really for it creates a community of diverse members who can express their thoughts openly but also knowing that should you write something a little close to the knuckle someone’s going to pull you up over it you can be sure of that.. This is the only SM I do tbh, I used to do FB and Twitter but no more.. We owe a lot to our Mods etc for bringing us this wonderful platform and we should also be so grateful for having such forum members, though we may never actually in many cases meet up it’s so nice having guys out there who we can turn to in good times and bad with just a few taps on our phones etc.. We should look after this forum along with all its amazing members .. For without it, where would we be ? X
This forum has kept me sane through some dark times I’m extremely grateful for the love and support I get from this forum it’s full of kind caring people I hold you all dearly in my heart In this world where you can be anything... be kind
That's not quite right. For ages now the CPS have continued prosecutions without the cooperation of the complainant if they have sufficient evidence to do so and I have done dozens of cases where that has happened. They deploy tactics such as applying for the complainant's witness statement to be read in court as hearsay evidence, or using body worn footage of the complainant's initial account to be played as "res gestae" (an exception to the rule against hearsay) and in combination with the defendant's own account in interview and bad character applications in which the court hears about relevant previous convictions of the defendant, they can often stitch a case together. The first ever effective trial I did was of a guy accused of throwing his girlfriend into the corner of a room, beating her, then kicking her legs from under her before pouring a can of beer over her, and he turned up to court arm in arm with her (an hour late), with him confidently telling me he will be home by lunchtime as "she ain't pressing charges no more", only for the trial to go ahead anyway based on his admissions in interview that he had hit her but it was self-defence. I don't know the outcome because after hearing this and hearing that the CPS were also going to apply to withdraw his bail, he bolted from the unlocked dock and escaped from court, so I withdrew my representation of him. I imagine he was convicted in his absence. They also even go so far as summonsing complainants and if they don't appear, occasionally seeking a warrant for their arrest. One of the reasons I stopped prosecuting was that I had a fallout with the CPS after I refused to obey an over-zealous lawyer's instructions to apply for a warrant for the arrest of a no-show complainant because the elements of the test were not satisfied (we could not prove the summons had been served). I would have been in breach of the Code of Conduct if I had made an application knowing there was no legal basis for doing so, especially when the defendant was un-represented and so was at a significant disadvantage, so I didn't. I even have a colleague who once defended an uncooperative complainant against a charge of contempt of court after a District Judge put her in the cells because although she answered the summons and came to court, she refused to give evidence against her boyfriend.
The bits I have read suggest CPS did nothing wrong. Often, those in domestic violence situations 'need rescuing from themselves'. Too many cases end up with severe, or worse, beatings because cases were dropped earlier on as complainant pulled from the case. (Or so the media say when reporting on subsequent murders.) Onlooker wise, it looks odd that a single incident created this circumstance, haven't seen anything in the press that she was a violent woman (unlike Cole!) and you can understand why some are saying its because they wanted an example (high profile females abusing twice her size boyfriend) rather than justice per se
As you say, the CPS were doing their job...if she twatted the boyfriend with a lamp while he was in bed (asleep?) and there was as much claret as suggested, she could have killed him...in any case she should have faced charges.
Can you imagine the outcry if Simon Cowell had been arrested for apparently giving his girlfriend a thorough shoeing but then the CPS had stopped the case because she’d changed her mind about the prosecution once her bruises had faded? The Guardian would probably spontaneously combust with righteous feminist anger. If anything she seemed to have been undercharged. The fact that the bedroom was covered in blood suggests that wounds were caused, meaning that it should probably have been charged as ABH (unless they blood wasn’t the complainant’s, which opens up a whole other can of worms as it would suggest self defence). However, for years the CPS have seemed to pursue an unwritten policy of charging what should be ABH as common assault for what appear to be cynical reasons. Common assault is what’s known as a “summary only” offence, meaning it can only be tried in the Mags Court, while ABH is an “either way” offence, for which the defendant can elect trial by jury in the Crown Court. Mags trials are cheap and quick and for a variety of reasons have a shockingly high conviction rate (both of which are good for CPS stats) while Crown Court trials are expensive and take longer and juries tend to convict far fewer defendants (neither of which is good news for the CPS figures). So, while you’re much more likely to be convicted in the Mags, the sentence will usually be much lighter. And while the conviction rate in the Mags is very high, celebs seem to buck that trend, for which I suspect there is a variety of reasons, but one simple one is that unlike most defendants they can throw money at the case, meaning that they have experienced representation and it is properly prepared. This is in contrast to most legal aid Mags cases where due to the savage cuts over the past 20 years (but esp the last 10), the defendant will get a high st solicitor that is so run off their feet, underpaid and overworked that they won’t have drafted a “proof of evidence” (the defendant’s statement of their version of events to be given to counsel to use as a basis for their preparation), much less chased missing evidence and disclosure. What the legally aided defendant will actually get is a pupil (trainee) or baby (less than 3 years “on their feet”) barrister who got the papers the night before (if they’re lucky - I’ve done trials where I only received the papers at court), where more often than not they won’t have a proof of evidence, so they have no idea what their client’s defence is until they speak to them at court, and they often won’t have any disclosure because the CPS won’t have sent it and the defendant’s sol won’t have chased for it. They’ll then beg the Mags not to start the trial immediately as they need time to “proof” their client and hassle the CPS for disclosure, in response to which they’ll usually get a tiresome lecture about the importance of speed and efficiency in the criminal justice system and how it’s the sol’s fault the CPS haven’t performed their statutory disclosure duties because the sol only sent 14 chasing emails (none of which received an answer) rather than 40 and that if they wanted to take a proof from their client they should have arranged to meet them at 8am (nice idea, but the sol didn’t have D’s number and anyway, had left the office by the time counsel received the papers). However, if the CPS advocate (often not a fully qualified lawyer) needs more time to find out why the complainant hasn’t showed up or to get the defendant’s PNC (criminal record) from the Police Liaison Officer, then they’ll usually be indulged. Honestly. It’s bloody carnage. If anyone wants to see what criminal justice really looks like at the coal face, just go and watch, open mouthed, a couple of trials of legally aided defendants in the Mags.
She denied it all. How did you get battered and room covers in blood? Just putting it out there...were people as critical of media chasing Pretorius (spieling CBA to google name)...or is it because its an attractive white woman? Whatever its still terrible a 40yr old person felt the need to take their own life
If you can believe not in court information, her biggest concern appeared to be the police officers that attended were wearing police camera's and so recorded not only as things were being talked about but the scene itself
until they do nothing it all goes tits up three months later he kills her in what was a volatile relationship, the signs were there! and THEY did fuck all let it go they had their chance, .....and then who's fault is it then..........yey! the system its totally broke. You decide what to do, ....left or right?
Luckily I dont have to decide. I have purposely stayed away from any work where life & death is a considered outcome.
