weird weird weird...........

The phrase "dirty old man" springs to mind!

This whole case seems strange from all angles...I'm not condoning the behaviour of the defendent AT ALL (regardless of whether he actually slept with the girl or not, his behaviour was completely INAPPROPRIATE and he neds to be charged with SOMETHING) - but in one of the articles, it stated that the girl was talking to an adult family friend (friend of her father's) about sleeping with the defendent and this 'family friend' asked her for all the 'juicy bits' - does that sound like something you would say to your friend's 14 year old DAUGHTER?!?!?!?! DISGUSTING!!!! That guy needs to be sentenecd to some therapy sessions at minimum too!

I also don't get the significance in one of the earlier articles that states that she contacted several boys via text message, and that at least one of these boys was black, and that she was white and her father was white and the defendent is white....wtf does THAT have to do with ANYTHING - who cares if one of the boys or ALL of the boys were black...and the other people were white - who cares if they were purple, grey, or green - it's crap like this that pisses me off...this sh*t has NOTHING to do with the case at hand...NOTHING!

So what about the inordinate number of "dirty old men" that are Bermudian?  Maybe we can stick them all out on North Rock.

In my experiences - when there is little defence - the defence lawyers go off on tangents and bring up all sorts of irrelevant issues - i.e. text other boys (so what?) and one was black (so what again?)

I guess they hope for a 'bite' and then to confuse the jury or deflect things onto another issue?

Unfortunately this tactic often works!!... ....

The defence has to say something - when you have no real defence – some (not all Lawyers – *phew* don’t want them after me!) can go fishing and grasp at straws.

Piglet

Okay...I can sort of see that...I guess...but 'grasping at straws' is right! I still don't really see the significance of pointing out people's race in this particular instance- all that does is paint a picture that the father of the victim is racist...unless they're trying to prove that he is also ageist - and okay, I get that the defense is trying to prove that maybe this girl 'tells stories' (what a pretty way of calling her a liar) but the defendant wrote her inappropriate e-mails and text messages...these people should be happy that I am NOT a judge...

This whole case (what is being presented in the papers at least) seems so surreal...honestly! From what I am reading (between the lines) this girl may be a little lolita, BUT, Mr. 37-year-old SHOULD KNOW BETTER! All I can think about are his poor wife and kids as I believe they are the REAL victims in this whole affair (pun intended)

KUDOS to the girl's father for taking her cell phone and getting into her e-mail account to read the messages - parents seriously need to be nosey...I hated it at the time, but my parents knew EVERYTHING that was going on (including reading notes tucked away in my backpack - my stone-age version of 'text messages') but that's exactly what type of parent I plan to be when the time comes...NOSEY!

I do have to applaud the fact that this has made it to court - what about that other 14 year old girl who had gone missing and they suspected that she was keeping company with an older man who was questioned about her whereabouts at the time...I'm trying to recall details, but it was in the paper not to long ago! Does someone actually have to press charges for stat rape here or can the police go ahead and charge someone without anyone pressing charges?

"If you have the law on your side, argue the law. If you have the truth on your side, argue the truth. If you have neither, bang on the table."  -- Old legal maxim

Noel

Wasssup, repeat after me:  oooooohhhhhhmmmmm violence does not cure violence...