From Medicine to the Bar – why me, why now?
Providing a voice to those disenfranchised, marginalised, stigmatised individuals who do not have a voice in the society can be extraordinarily rewarding. It was for this reason that I transferred to the Bar after a career in Forensic Psychiatry for 15 years. Such was my experience last week, when my client’s conviction was overturned. At the magistrates’ court the defendant was convicted of assault on an emergency worker following a frightful arrest which had a strange resemblance to George Floyd whereby a black man with mental health problem was pinned down to the floor and handcuffed. The defendant has a long history of serious mental illness of schizophrenia, evicted from home and made homeless and repeatedly charged with petty crimes. Not once did anyone stand by him either in courts or in the healthcare systems to provide him with a voice and make him believe that he too has rights to be heard. With detailed cross-examination of the officers and meticulous submission I was able to establish that the court could not be certain beyond reasonable doubt that the assault was either intentional or reckless. Justice prevailed and his voice was heard.