Every pair of eyes is on you and judging you. No-jury trials would give us better hope of justice
| Published date | 29 May 2023 |
| Publication title | Daily Record, The / Sunday Mail (Glasgow, Scotland) |
However, many lawyers warn it could lead to miscarriages of justice and a planned boycott by Scots bar associations will make it unworkable.
Esther lived in Lybster, Caithness, at the time of the alleged attack on June 6, 2011.
Her case was exceptional ly controversial as she was arrested for "wasting police time" and handcuffed by Northern Constabulary a week after alleging a foreign oil worker raped her.
Police had allowed him to leave the country.
Shamefully, Esther was forced to remove her clothing in a room with an open door and wear a police issue T-shirt and shorts that were "manky" while detained and questioned.
After the case was reviewed by the National Rape Investigation Unit of Police Scotland, set up in 2013, it was established there had been enough evidence to charge the man.
He was by then living in the US but working in Africa and police mounted a successful operation to intercept him at Heathrow after learning he connected his flights there.
He was tried for rape at Aberdeen High Court in 2016 but was cleared by the jury on a not proven verdict.
The Police Independent Review Commissioner later slammed the by then-defunct Northern force for its treatment of Esther, upholding eight of 15 complaints she made.
The prosecutor told Esther she believed the mishandling of the investigation by Northern officers had cost her any chance of securing a conviction.
Esther, who lives in Canada, where an accused can choose trial by judge, jury or both in many cases, said: "There would have been a better chance of conviction had it just been a judge deciding.
"My case was complicated because of the way I was treated by police, a lot of time had passed and not all the evidence was presented in court.
"The more people added into the mix of hearing evidence, I feel the harder it is to satisfy them a case is proved beyond reasonable doubt. You have a group of people debate in a room, no matter if it's in court, a classroom, the workplace, anywhere, people are expressing different opinions and views and it's easy for people to be influenced and change their mind.
"Even seeing the body language and facial expressions of others can change someone's opinion.
"The fewer people involved, the more honest and fair the outcome would be. It's overwhelming for a victim to have to go over very upsetting details in front of so many strangers...
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