VAEngineer
New Member
My mother was assaulted by her two sisters. There are three witnesses. One is the husband of one of the perps. The second is a daughter of one of the perps. The third is my mother's sister in law. When the police were called they only interviewed two of the witnesses. They interviewed the husband and the sister in law. They did not separate the witnesses and they questioned the sister in law in the presence of both perps. The husband and the sister in law denied that an assault took place.
We approached the sister in law to ask why she denied that the assault took place. She answered that she was scared of the perps and didn't have the courage to tell the police what happened in the their presence. The sister in law was asked to submit a sworn statement stating her reasons for denying the assault and describing what happened. A warrant was then issued for the arrest of both sisters.
Fast forward several months to a pretrial hearing. The deputy solicitor, to the surprise of my mother, informed both parties that there was not enough evidence to proceed. My mother asked what evidence he had and learned that the sworn statement from the sister in law was missing, along with photos of my mother's injuries. The solicitor said that even with this information he would not prosecute the case. He said this in front of the perps and their defense attorney. He informed my mother that she could proceed with the case by representing herself or hiring a lawyer, but he was not going to prosecute. The solicitor was very condescending, created a scene by raising his voice, and argueably ridiculed a victim in front of the perps when we questioned his decision.
This doesn't make sense to me. Can a victim hire a personal attorney to prosecute a criminal case in criminal court? Is it legal and ethical for an assistant solicitor to ignore key evidence that directly resulted in a warrant being issued, in his decision to drop a case, and do so in the presence of the defense? Is there any way to have the assistant solicitor reconsider or request the service of another assistant solicitor?
After news of this development spread, several members of the family have come forward to offer sworn statements that say the perps have been bragging about the assault and have admitted and described it in detail. I should also mention that the police officer that initially questioned the witnesses has since been fired.
We approached the sister in law to ask why she denied that the assault took place. She answered that she was scared of the perps and didn't have the courage to tell the police what happened in the their presence. The sister in law was asked to submit a sworn statement stating her reasons for denying the assault and describing what happened. A warrant was then issued for the arrest of both sisters.
Fast forward several months to a pretrial hearing. The deputy solicitor, to the surprise of my mother, informed both parties that there was not enough evidence to proceed. My mother asked what evidence he had and learned that the sworn statement from the sister in law was missing, along with photos of my mother's injuries. The solicitor said that even with this information he would not prosecute the case. He said this in front of the perps and their defense attorney. He informed my mother that she could proceed with the case by representing herself or hiring a lawyer, but he was not going to prosecute. The solicitor was very condescending, created a scene by raising his voice, and argueably ridiculed a victim in front of the perps when we questioned his decision.
This doesn't make sense to me. Can a victim hire a personal attorney to prosecute a criminal case in criminal court? Is it legal and ethical for an assistant solicitor to ignore key evidence that directly resulted in a warrant being issued, in his decision to drop a case, and do so in the presence of the defense? Is there any way to have the assistant solicitor reconsider or request the service of another assistant solicitor?
After news of this development spread, several members of the family have come forward to offer sworn statements that say the perps have been bragging about the assault and have admitted and described it in detail. I should also mention that the police officer that initially questioned the witnesses has since been fired.
