The Name of the Game

By Sylvia
The Sylvia's Site
November 20, 2013

http://www.theinquiry.ca/wordpress/2013/11/20/the-name-of-the-game/

As everyone knows the Father Eric Dejaeger ssex abuse trial in Iqaluit was cancelled today due to a raging blizzard which swept throught the area.  Believe it or not, this is the same storm which devastated Washington Illinois, caused havoc and power outages in southern Ontario, roared through Quebec, and on up to Nunavut with a blizzard which shut down the entire community of Iqaluit.  And yes, that was it for the trial.  It was under way for the day, but shortly thereafter the weather deteriorated to a point that the trial was cancelled and courthouse was shut down.

Hopefully the snow plows will be running full tilt through the night and the roads of Iqaluit will be open for travel by morning.   Right now the temperature is -23 C with blowing snow and reduced visibility.  Conditions are expected to improve by morning.

Let’s cross our fingers that the case can proceed, and that those witnesses who were to finish testifying today can do so  tomorrow and then get back home to their family and friends.

They may have been in session for only an hour or so, but look at what happened int he courtroom in that short spell:

19 November 2013:  Defence questions memory, motivation of priest’s alleged sex abuse victims 

I posted what was probably an early version of that article when I blogged that the trial was cancelled for the day due to bad weather:

19 November 2013: A raging blizzard

The article led to an short exchange between B and I about memory.  I said I would blog about that later.  Well, I have already blogged about this during the Cornwall Public Inquiry, away back 25 April of 2007.  I hunted down the blog, read it through, and decided that that’s what I’d like to say again, so I will simply direct you to the blog.

The blog is called “Does that make me a liar?”

It is true that I wrote this because of events transpiring during the Cornwall Public Inquiry, but it hinges on my thoughts on cross-examination and memory, and it was through sitting through cross-examinations at sex abuse trials and  watching the process both there and at the CPI as overzealous defence lawyers rummage through their bag of ‘tricks’ to discredit a witness that I began to question the tactics used by lawyers to discredit a witness.    That, after all, is the name of their game.  Discredit by whatever means.

Yes, I fully understand the need to test evidence under cross examination to ensure that the truth unfolds as it should.  I do not, however, understand defending the indefensible by whatever means in order to ‘win’ at all costs.

I also believe that expert witnesses are often a necessity at a sex abuse trial, to explain to judges and juries, for example, such things as the impact of clerical sex abuse on a child, and how memory works, and why victims take decades to disclose , and why so many victims disclose incrementally and so on.

I will leave it at that, and will call it a day

Enough for now,

Sylvia