Cast of characters
The Telegraph did a story on the mother, the support person, and the dog. It will be a Royal Court play next, then a 6 part series on Channel 4.
Stonewall’s witness interrupted Allison Bailey’s tribunal hearing on Tuesday so that their dog and mother could accompany them while giving evidence.
Actually it was dog and mother and support person who turned out to be a support solicitor i.e. an extra lawyer who was a surprise to the court. I think the court wasn’t best pleased.
[A]s Kirrin Medcalf, head of trans inclusion at Stonewall, was sworn in to give evidence via the online hearing before Employment Judge Sarah Goodman on Tuesday, the hearing was forced to break after he failed to warn the court that his dog and mother would be in the room.
And solicitor.
Ijeoma Omambala QC, Stonewall’s barrister, told the tribunal that the witness should have “periodic breaks” and that he had a “support person” with him while giving evidence.
And mummy and doggy.
However, Ben Cooper QC, representing Ms Bailey, interjected, saying he was unaware of the witness having “extra needs” and said it was “not proper” for such a last-minute change. He accused Stonewall’s legal team of “blindsiding”.
Judge Goodman said that if there was another person in the room accompanying the witness, then they would also need to be “in shot”. Ms Omambala then told the hearing that “all of” those currently in the room with Stonewall’s head of trans inclusion included his mother, support person and dog.
But not that “support person” is a solicitor?
“This is all new information,” Mr Cooper said, as Judge Goodman called a break for a few minutes so that the room could be rearranged, and the hearing resumed with the witness accompanied by his mother, his solicitor, and a dog.
Why stop there? Why not his budgie and his hairdresser?
Guess he truly is a “they”!
This could go either way.
“My God! If even someone who is used to fighting for trans rights is so traumatized by what Bailey did that they need to be accompanied by extra support & frequent breaks when dealing with it in court then Bailey is at LEAST as harmful as a rapist. We should have encouraged this trans person to testify on video, at an undisclosed location. It’s clear that gender critical views have no place in a decent society, let alone a workplace. I realize that now.”
or
“Oh. My. God.”
Heh. I have to say, from the outside and without the ability to see and hear the poignant or ludicrous testimony, the probabilities seem all on the second option. But who knows, maybe Kirrin Medcalf actually comes across as a tragic heart-rending victim of Society’s Bigoted Cruelty.
I haven’t a clue what this is trying to express, but I’m going with ‘the witness needs to be shot along with another person in the room’.
In my limited experience, a witness testifying from the witness box, such as a vulnerable child, is allowed to have one support person in the witness box with the whole testifying. In open court, everyone can see both the witness and the support person.
In Zoom testimony, ideally the witness should be alone in whatever location from which they are testifying; otherwise, there could be someone present who is coaching the witness. The court here wanted the support person in the same Room camera frame as the witness, to preclude shenaniganery with coaching or feeding from unsworn and unknown persons. If I had been the judge, I’d have (1) ordered the witness to justify the need for a support person, and (2) even if a support person were allowed, ordered the mother and the dog to leave the room.
Ratzo batzo.
” in the witness box with them while testifying …”
The mother, the support person, and the dog walk into a bar…
… but not the lawyer; he passed the bar.
lol
Is Ben Cooper QC the hero who uttered the phrase “I think we have understood all we can here” at Maya Forstater’s tribunal? I think I will use that for the rest of my life every time I abandon a fruitless attempt to understand someone’s nonsense. Not out loud, just in my head.