John Terry

@terry wrote:

@wordsworth60 wrote:

I only just read today that Ferdinand actually had nothing to do with the complaint to the police or the charges being pressed against John Terry.

He was forced into the witness box against his will then. I notice after giving evidence he and his agent got a taxi home. He only lives a 10 minute drive from the court, but it took him 3 hours to get home after the taxi driver decided to take a scenic route through Cambridge.

the complaint was made by an off duty police officer. The Police followed it up and passed it to the CPS, I don’t know whether Ferdinand was subpoenaed or threatened with a subpoena or not, fact is, he wasn’t being lambasted for being a witness but for using the courts against Terry, it wasn’t his case, it was a criminal case. If he hadn’t testified, he’d probably have got stick anyway. Anyway, it’s all bollocks.

Witnesses in Criminal Trials

Can a person be forced to give evidence
A person can be compelled (forced) to give attend court and give evidence if they have been deemed competent to do so. The exceptions to this rule are the accused himself, the accused’s spouse and other individuals who are not deemed competent to give evidence.

What happens if a compellable witness refuses to give evidence
In the circumstances where either party to the proceedings believes that a witness may not attend court voluntarily, they can apply for a witness summons to be issued (an order issued to a person outlining the specific date for their appearance in court). A witness summons can take 2 forms namely, a witness summons requiring a person to give evidence and a witness summons requiring a person to produce documents that are needed as evidence. If a witness fails to attend court or give evidence or produce the required documents, they can be punished for contempt of court. The punishment can take the form of a prison sentence of up to 3 months duration and/or a fine of up to £2500.

*Looks at Tel’s hair*..

:P

@terry wrote:

Jen

There was a 10-year period (when Tony Blair was PM) that 4,000 new laws and regulations were introduced onto the statute books. That averages out to at least one new law per day.

Any law introduced by Labour compelling you to give evidence against your will isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. My son was asked to give evidence against somebody in a court case. He refused and that was the end of it. He wasn’t fined or imprisoned.

If you don’t give evidence, then you can be held in contempt of court. It was obviously decided not to do that in your son’s case, but even the most casual check on any internet search engine will bring up a number of cases in UK courts each year. Even the accused’s silence is taken into account where a reasonable defence is not mounted.

These laws are in place in most, if not all, western democracies and have been for many years. It being a free country has nothing to do with it. In any case I thought democracy was about obeying the rule of law of upheld by the democratically elected government, not picking and choosing.

Interestingly enough, these cases are dealt with under the Criminal Justice Act 1994, which updated previous legislation, according to the Crown Prosecution Service (see their website).

Are you now more inclined to go along with the law now that the most up to date version of it was passed by the Conservative party?

:?