Expert Witness by Anna Sandiford Page A

fortunately, neither the driver nor passenger was injured, although thedriver somehow managed to acquire a head wound when diving into a bush in an attempt to evade capture by the police. I was intrigued, and went on to read the full, bizarre series of events. The police described chasing the driver, on foot by this time, until they came to a corner. As I rounded the corner, my colleague was partially blocking my view but I became aware of a pair of legs sticking out of the bush which we made a move to grab hold of. As it turns out, the driver had panicked and jumped into the nearest bush when he was out of sight of the police. Unfortunately, it was a laurel bush and was very sturdy, so sturdy in fact that he couldn’t get into it properly and couldn’t get out of it again either. Luckily for him, the Boys in Blue were close by to give him a helping hand.
    Some times, solicitors have to admit that their clients might have been a bit naughty. One solicitor wrote to advise that his client admitted that, at some point, he was obstructive to the police and there was an altercation between the client and the police officers. The general tone of the letter was some thing like: The defendant was eventually conveyed to the police station, having first attended hospital to receive treatment for a head injury. There was no indication in the letter of how the defendant acquired the head injury but the police officer’s statement was quite telling. The defendant began to remove his watch to allow me to apply the handcuffs. He placed his watch down on a kitchen counter and then pulled out a carving knife from the kitchen drawer and raised it above his head in a threatening manner. I have to ask if there is any other way to hold a knife above your head in front of two police officers without it looking threatening. It seems that the defendant was eventually disarmed with a few blasts of pepper spray and a clonk on the head with a police-issue baton.
    Another case involved a defendant who denied consuming excessive quantities of alcohol in a drink-driving case. The defendant said that a man she didn’t know bought her four drinks of lemonade and that he must have spiked her drinks heavily with vodka, although she didn’t notice at the time. She agreed her car may have been swerving but this was due to thick fog. Did she mean the fog was driving her car?
    Yet another defendant proffered that although she was six times over the legal breath alcohol level and had been found slumped over the steering wheel of her car surrounded by several empty vodka bottles, surely the breath test result must have been wrong.
    Then there was the man who was facing an assault charge. I accept presence and participation in the altercation. The reason the forensic evidence suggests I was there is because I was there and involved in the incident. As far as it goes, that has to be about as helpful as a defendant’s statement can get.
    Some times, the statements are just not particularly clear. For example: I noted that he had matted blood about his hair on all sides. He was bald.
    Whether a case requires a formal written statement, a report or a brief letter, it’s critical to convey on paper the things I consider to be important in any given case. This is my only chance to transfer my opinion about this case to the person who instructed me. Experience, and many lawyers, have also taught me that a lot of people just read the last section of any report, usually the one headed Summary/Conclusions.
    Just as you were taught at junior school when you were seven, it’s very important to write a story with a beginning, middle and an end. Take it a step further to when you wereabout 13 and writing up your first proper science experiments. The voice of your teacher echoing out of the classroom as you all charge out, like Pamplona bulls, after the bell rings on Friday afternoon: ‘Everyone remember to write Introduction, Methods, Results