Court Observation, Essay Example

Back ground of the case

The defendant, Patrick, was accused of defiling a minor. He lived in the same neighborhood with a young family with which he had develop a close association during the last six years that they had been living in that neighborhood. The six years of staying together had made them develop mutual trust and they even shared services such as mail service. However, the defendants alcoholic tendencies were a great source of nuisance to the family of three but they still managed to tolerate him and treat him as a close brother.

On the day of the crime the defendant came home in the even drunk as usual and proceeded to his house. He later emerged from the house and called his neighbors’ nine years daughter to his house. He is said to have defiled the girl on that particular day between 4 00p and 5 00pm. During this time the parents were at home and had been looking for her since she disappeared without their knowledge. They had even checked for her at her friends places which were a few blocks away from their residence.

An hour latter their daughter emerged from their neighbor’s home and seemed to harbor walking difficulties. A closer look revealed that the child had been crying. The parents were very concerned about their child and demanded to be told what had happened prompting the child to narrate her defilement ordeal.

According to her explanation, when the defendant called her, she went to his house expecting to be sent as it had always been since they moved to that neighborhood. Usually the defendant would send her and reword her with presents such as sweets when she completed his errands. However on this day, he locked the door the moment she came got into his house and dared her to cry. He then proceeded to defile her.

The beginning of the session

The court session was held in the morning hours and it began by the bailiff calling the courtroom to attention as the judge came in. once the judge was seated in his chair and everyone else was quietly seated down. The Clark read the charges to court. The two lawyers, both the prosecution and the defense lawyer made their opening statements.

The persecuting lawyer termed the crime at and the defendant as being brutal. In his opening statement he stated that for the purposes of securing the social and psychological growth of children in the country, it was wise to take punitive measures against those who defiled children, like Patrick, in order to discourage others who harbor similar ideas from exciting them. He detested the child defilement act and obviously was trying to sway the Judge’s and the whole court room emotions towards sympathizing with the little girl and disliking Patrick.

In his opening statement, the defense lawyer did not seek to challenge what the prosecuting lawyer had said. He instead went a head to exonerate his client from the act he committed, stating that his client should not be blamed for what happened since he did it under the influence of alcohol. He went further to evoke the earlier positive influence he had had on the kid like buying her presents and books. He called on every one in the courtroom not to be ready to point fingers at the defendant as they had already done.

Attendants

With the arrival of the Judge the courtroom was ready to stat the hearing of the day. Present in the court were, the judge, the court Clark, defense lawyer, persecution lawyer, the defendant, complainants (the family of the defiled child), witnesses and the members of the public, as well as journalists. Every one had been in the court waiting for the judge to come and preside over the case

The court session

After the two opposing statements made by the two lawyers, the judge called, the defendant to the witness stand and swore him to telling the truth in totality.  The defendant was asked to narrate the events that occurred on that day. A remorseful Patrick went ahead to narrate his side of the story. He stated that since he was under the influence of alcohol on that day he can not remember everything that took place. The two lawyers took turns to question the defendant.

By asking the defendant questions related to charge, the defendant was being given chance to tell want happened on the day of the crime and defend himself. The two lawyers kept the court lively by asking the defendant and other witnesses present at the court intriguing questions. However, their intention was not to keep the court entertained but rather to help the judge make an appropriate druling by sifting all the evidence produced before the court.

Both sides presented witnesses in the court. The Childs parents were also called to the witness stand separately to tell the court what they had seen and knew. They all said that they had been fooled by the front that Patrick had put on for the past six years. Evidently they regretted having allowed him to be very close to their family. Their daughter was present but was not called to the witness stand because she was sad and cried through out the session.

A doctor who had, examined the defiled child and was in charge of her treatment was also called upon to tell the court what he founds out in his examination. The doctor told the court that the child had suffered serious genital injuries due to the forced intercourse she hand encountered. He also added that the child had suffered psychologically and the effects of this suffering would have long term implication on her life.

A doctor who had been attending to defendant’s alcoholic problem was also called in by the defense. He narrated how alcohol interfere with its abusers minds. According to him his patient had not defiled the minor willingly but had done it under the influence of alcohol. Under such circumstance he had no ability to take the control of what was going on but was driven by the need to satisfy his urge. When asked whether the defendant could repeat the same, he stated that the incident could still recur if Patrick’s drinking tendencies was not checked.

After all the witness had been questioned and the judge was satisfied with the evidence, he called upon the lawyers to give their closing remarks. The prosecuting lawyer reiterated the need to rid the society of defilers. He stated that adults should not be allowed to interfere with children’s growth. He also stated that he expected every on to uphold the law and not to violate the children’s rights but allow them enjoy free movement within the environment. The defense lawyer on the other hand obviously aware that he could not win the case pleaded for a lighter sentence stating that if jailed his client would not be able to continue with the treatment he was getting to help him quit alcoholism. He also stated that the defendant complained of having been mistreated by the police during his arrest and during the time he spent in custody and needed treatment for the injuries he had suffered.

The judge who had been listening keenly to the proceedings in order to get a clear understand of all the facts that were presented before him and making note however did not make an immediate ruling but ordered the court to convene on a later date for the final ruling