The Criminal Justice System

[nipper]

I would agree that if I was to go tear arsing along Victoria Street and knock down a pedestrian on the crossing ..........down from Brandish and Creg ny Baa, overtaking cars at speed fast enough to cross onto the other side of the road even if the brakes were 'found defective' and splatter a perfectly innocent road user..........to death then I should be found guilty of Dangerous Driving and have the book thrown at me.

 

Try that.

 

 

remember it was proved in court that his car was at fault, mechanical failure caused the accident.

 

Then he should have been found innocent of all charges.........

[Speckled Frost]

Apparently, if you sneeze and can somehow prove it, that is a cast-iron defence.

 

As a whole, this type of thread comes up intermittently and, as always, I say that you have to be in court to know all the facts and all the mitigation to understand the sentence handed down.

 

For example, in a serious case you can wipe off a couple of years automatically if the person pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.

 

As the press coverage goes, it's rubbish to insinuate influential people can 'lean' on the media.

 

Perhaps they can 'lean' on the court system and have their case heard separately and just not tell the media.

I don't know.

[manxchatterbox]

Lonan3 " I've had a particular interest in one or two cases in recent times that involved motoring offences - one, specifically, that involved driving under the influence - that never made it into the local papers.

I know that the person involved was found guilty, I know that he was sentenced and is currently unable to drive, but his public reputation appears to remain intact due to the facts not being reported in the local press"

 

give us a some dates to look between and I'll go and look it up....

[LoneWolf]

I know that the person involved was found guilty, I know that he was sentenced and is currently unable to drive, but his public reputation appears to remain intact due to the facts not being reported in the local press.

 

I think we could all tell this sort of tale. I know one guy who had three convictions concerning drunken behaviour of one sort or another none of which was reported in the newspapers.

The reasons had more to do with newspaper deadlines and the times he actually appeared in court than with any conspiracy to keep his name out of the papers.

[sarahc]

I know that the person involved was found guilty, I know that he was sentenced and is currently unable to drive, but his public reputation appears to remain intact due to the facts not being reported in the local press.

 

I think we could all tell this sort of tale. I know one guy who had three convictions concerning drunken behaviour of one sort or another none of which was reported in the newspapers.

The reasons had more to do with newspaper deadlines and the times he actually appeared in court than with any conspiracy to keep his name out of the papers.

 

Stop clouding the issues with facts!

[Ripsaw]

I would agree that if I was to go tear arsing along Victoria Street and knock down a pedestrian on the crossing ..........down from Brandish and Creg ny Baa, overtaking cars at speed fast enough to cross onto the other side of the road even if the brakes were 'found defective' and splatter a perfectly innocent road user..........to death then I should be found guilty of Dangerous Driving and have the book thrown at me.

 

Try that.

remember it was proved in court that his car was at fault, mechanical failure caused the accident.

 

Then he should have been found innocent of all charges.........

 

I realise now which incident you are refering to and I'm not going to provoke a arguement on a specific case that provoked so many emotions.

 

I will refer back to my earlier post in which I intimated that if there is a deliberate negligence on the part of the driver that can be proven in court, then they will be charged with and found guilty of driving dangerously.

 

If there is any doubt in the minds of the court/jury over the actual cause of the incident, or circumstances exsist such as mechanical failure or a momentary loss of concentration then they will either be charged with 'Careless' or charged with 'Dangerous' but convicted with a 'Careless' verdict.