Court:
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CLM 10 am |
Hearing date:
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June 1st 2022 |
Bench (DJ or JPs)
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JPs 2 women don’t know their names |
Charged with:
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Section 14 August 31st 2021 |
Represented by:
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Unrepresented. Pleaded not guilty. |
Please outline key points in prosecution and defence cases.
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Superintendent David Ivey gave evidence first. He issued the S14 at 4pm on the afternoon of August 31st. He was the Bronze Commander. 200 people collected at the GLC building in the morning, marched through London Bridge and then moved down station approach. At about 1.30 a single decker open top bus approached and straddled the road. There were wooden structures across the roof of the bus. He walked on to London Bridge and 12 buses were stuck in south bound traffic. Protesters palms were held against the windows. There were 20/30 people surrounding the bus. There were 400 police officers (!!). A speaker system was set up to ask people to move. !0 people were locked on in the bus. 104 buses were stopped! The London Fire Brigade were alarmed. The aim was to open the road. Protesters refused to engage. Some left and marched off. 15 arrests were made. PC Visayalinghin, the arresting officer then gave evidence for the prosecution. He engaged with defendant and asked her to move. He gave her the 5 stage appeal and she was arrested. Her demeanor was very co-operative however. defendant then gave evidence. Defendant had actually moved twice before in order to keep an eye out for the woman on the bus because she had witnessed police aggression when they climbed on to the bus and she felt she should bear witness. She talked about Antonio Gutteras and Zeiglar and the need to re-evaluate our principles. She also mentioned proportionality and that her actions were to try to de-escalate possible violence. There were no legal observers in the vicinity. She chose not to move. |
Was defence evidence submitted in writing?
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There was evidence given in writing to the magistrate, a Guardian article and Youtube video of the police violence at the beginning. As well as defendant’s reasons for doing what she did. This was handed to her on the day but personally I don’t think she read it. |
Did defence witness(es) give evidence in person? Were they cross-examined? |
Yes. She pleaded not guilty. She gave evidence in Court.
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What was the verdict?
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Guilty. S!4 was lawful and proportional under the circumstances. |
What was the sentence?
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6 months conditional discharge. |
What costs were awarded?
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£250 + £22 paid within 28 days. |
Please add anything else relevant.
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The main magistrate was flustered and just seemed to want to get through the cases as quickly as possible. The defendants didn’t really get a chance to give their statements as she wanted to keep them very short. And the Legal Advisor was very brusque and actually quite rude. |
Charge
Outcome
Court date