Acting in historical sex abuse trials: Oliver Saxby QC provides an insight into the challenges involved
January 6, 2016
In this series of case studies Oliver Saxby QC analyses three very substantial historical sex abuse trials in which he was involved over the last 12 months, each of which ended with successful outcomes: R v Bodnar and others at Canterbury Crown Court, in which he led for the defence; R v Singh and others at the Central Criminal Court, in which he led for the Crown; and R v Carragher and others at Leeds Crown Court, in which he led for the defence.
Case Study One – R v Bodnar and others
In Bodnar and others, Oliver appeared for the first and principal defendant, Roman Bodnar, one of eight Eastern Europeans facing allegations of ‘sex trafficking’ and serious sexual offences committed against a young girl also from Eastern Europe. Following Oliver’s cross-examination of the complainant the judge directed the jury to enter verdicts of not guilty in respect of all defendants on all counts.
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Case Study Two – R v Singh and others
In Singh and others, Oliver was leading for the Crown in the much-publicised eleven-handed Aylesbury Sex Ring trial at the Old Bailey – a case centring on the testimony of two extremely vulnerable complainants aged between 12 and 16 at the time. Oliver secured convictions on the majority of the defendants on the majority of the counts in respect of both complainants.
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Case Study Three – R v Carragher and others
And finally in Carragher and others, Oliver was defending the lead defendant – James Carragher – the Catholic ‘De La Salle’ Brother charged with sexually abusing 16 young boys at the home he ran in the 1970s and 1980s. Despite the jury being told of his two sets of previous convictions for like offences committed against young boys of the same age at the same establishment over the same period, Mr Carragher was acquitted of the majority of the counts relating to the majority of the complainants.
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