On the Road to Injustice

 

This blog was first published in April 2005 and tells the true story of a Road Rage incident on Dundee's Kingsway.

The event itself was fairly typical of poor behaviour on the roads.
But what followed was quite out of the ordinary.
From the moment the police became involved, followed by solicitors and courts, I felt like a hitch-hiker aboard Heart of Gold, Douglas Adams's wholly remarkable space ship - the one powered by an Improbability Drive that gets its weird crew out of many a tight spot.

A driver, angry at being held up on his very own local speedtrack, had a temper tantrum and tailgated me.
But this didn't satisfy him so he reported me to the police.

His story was embellished with a number of improbable events, including a witness who materialised shortly after the alleged incident. This was a solo motorcyclist, who teleported in his own witness, a phantom pillion passenger.

I was charged with Dangerous Driving, an offence that carries a mandatory driving ban and a potential jail term.
One might expect such a serious charge to have prompted the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) to instigate checks on its witnesses to ensure that no part of its case was tainted.
Not so - the COPFS knew its three witnesses would be quite persuasive in court: real, hard evidence would not be required.
The Scottish Crown has form for knowingly sending malicious accusations to trial: Mckie, Megrahi, Stirrat, Green, Whitehouse and Clark have all been recent victims of its particular modus operandi.
In these cases, and in mine, the Crown cared more about getting convictions than getting to the truth.

My trial went ahead 9 months after the original incident.
Despite having had many months to rehearse their stories, all three witnesses tripped up during their testimonies and, like the Adams space ship, twisted the laws of space and time to suit their tall tale.
 A credulous Sheriff picked up on just one of their improbable scenarios, but allowed the witness concerned to claim that he was confused.

After the trial, I found documentary proof that the crux of the Crown's fantasy, relating to the time and location of the alleged incident, was so unlikely it could only have been generated by an Improbability Drive.

Unfortunately, the Scottish legal authorities have ignored this evidence and steadfastly refuse to accept that giving error-strewn testimony damages the credibility of their witnesses.

An injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere