The father of a sexual assault victim supports the lawyers’ strike action, although it could contribute to the delays in court that drove his son to attempt suicide.
The fourth week of the overpayment lawsuit will last five days, adding to process delays in England and Wales.
The government says the strikes are deepening court backlogs, but lawyers say the criminal justice system has been at a standstill for years.
Despite the prospect of further delays, the father says he supports her case.
The Justice Department says the court backlog has increased during the pandemic, but it’s making progress in addressing it.
And it is said that the lawyers’ strike is impeding this progress.
But ‘James’, father of a teenage victim in a sexual assault case, says the family, based near Manchester, suffered delays at every stage – well before the lawyers brought suit – and his son twice attempted suicide take what made them lose faith in the system.
After a three-year wait, James says the trial was finally scheduled two weeks ago, but was suddenly pushed back to March.
He blames the disarray in the criminal justice system, exacerbated by the strike, for keeping his son in limbo for so long.
Nevertheless, he has sympathy for the lawyers. “I totally agree with what they’re doing, but it put us in quite a position,” he says.
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The lawyers have rejected the government’s offer of a 15 percent increase in legal fees, saying they need 25 percent to make up for a decade of underfunding.
On Monday, the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) plans rallies in Manchester, Birmingham and Winchester, as well as a “mass lobbying” of Parliament.
The delayed trials include two counts of murder which are scheduled to begin at the Old Bailey on Monday.
Lawyers will go on strike every two weeks for weeks starting in August – and the courts will be further disrupted when security staff drop out to pay salaries on July 29 and August 2, 3 and 4.
- Strike leaves defendants with delays in court
- Lawyers leave courts for pay
James’ son “Joe” was 13 when he revealed he had been sexually assaulted multiple times.
James, who asked the BBC not to use their real names, describes the discovery as “terrifying”, his “worst nightmare”.
The family had high hopes that the full hearing, expected to last five days, would bring them to a conclusion and allow them to rebuild their lives.
But at the last minute, James was told an earlier trial had defected, so Joe’s case was delayed, moved to another court and then rescheduled until next March.
“This court system is a sinking ship,” says James. “And when the lifeboats are ejected, we’ll put the women and the children in first.
“Then why isn’t my child viewed in the same way by the courts?”
Joe is almost 17 now and, according to his father, “should be out with his friends and looking forward to college”.
Instead, he says, “He’s gone inside, staying in his room…
“He made himself think, ‘I’ll find out, however, win, lose or draw, this test goes.’
“You know, that little light at the end of the tunnel really got put out again.”
Diana Fawcett, chief executive of charity Victim Support, said: “We hear every day from people facing excruciatingly long waits for trial and many of the victims we support have been affected by the strikes.
“However, when it comes to backlogs in our courts, these strikes are only part of the picture and long court delays have been a problem for almost a decade.
“The government urgently needs to take action and invest throughout the system to address wide-ranging problems, ensure justice and prevent victims from losing confidence in the criminal justice system as a whole.”
Jo Sidhu, Chairman of the CBA, said, “When we employ specialized bleeding-edge criminal defense attorneys to provide prosecutors, defense attorneys and judges, crime victims put up with the added pain of more months until their trial dates.”
A Justice Department official said: “Outstanding cases in the Crown Court fell to a record low in 2019, but the pandemic caused significant delays.
“We are making progress in tackling the backlog as the Crown Court caseload fell by over 2,000 and the Magistrate Court caseload by a fifth from the peak seen last summer.
“The current strike is now forcing victims to wait for justice, despite a generous £7,000 pay rise for the typical criminal lawyer coming in September. We encourage lawyers to put victims first and avoid further delays.”
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