Man Remanded: Charged With Sexual Assault
This morning in Magistrates Court, a 29-year-old man, said by the Prosecutor to be of no fixed abode, was charged with two counts relating to interference with two women on 28 May 2011.
The first charge was that on 28th May 2011, he sexually assaulted a woman and caused her bodily harm. The second charge was intruding on the privacy of a female and causing her alarm.
The first charge is indictable and can only be tried in the Supreme Court. He was not required to enter a plea to this charge. He pleaded not guilty to the second charge.
Defence lawyer Marc Daniels told the Court that the accused is married to a Bermudian, has a known address, and was employed at the time of his arrest.
Magistrate Archie Warner ruled that the accused should be remanded in custody until a next hearing on 14 June 2011.
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why is a married man bothering other women in a way to cause them fear. i smell a WEIRDO!
You should be smelling (alleged) RAPIST (whether it was attempted or otherwise)!!
Sooooo…..let me make sure I have this straight—-Mr. Daniels says the cretin (allegedly) has a Bermudian wife and a job…..AND that should count for WHAT EXACTLY???
He perpetrated his (alleged) crimes TWICE IN THE SPACE OF AN HOUR in the areas where I walk and cycle and I am ANGRY that I now have to keep it in the back of my mind that I have to be more wary than usual in my own neighborhood. I want to know WHO he is and what he LOOKS LIKE. I am so sorry for the victims and I hope and pray they will recover from this terrifying crime, and find the courage to speak out and name names. It’s a shame he can’t be castrated if convicted. And it’s too bad he didn’t get the living crap beaten out of him when he was caught. I would have found it satisfying if he had. GREAT job by the police and I thank them for it! Let’s see if he gets convicted now and if so, how much time he gets!
Name him and shame him!!!! Its a bunch of BS how alleged sexual criminals get to have tere identity protected, its crazy. Name him, shame him and let the stigma of hang over his head.
Just cut them off! Frank and Beans.. then he won’t bother anyone
A nightmare. If convicted, with this criminal history, this man should not be eligible for status/Bermuda passport.
…Banish him to the S.P.C.A. Didn’t the police just ….. a dog ?
Dear Lillibet,
This is a live issue before the court so unfortunately I am duty bound to be measured in how I respond to your comment. You raise a very good question. When a defense lawyer goes to court and seeks bail for their client, it is because in our just and free society, we are all presumed innocent until proven guilty. Sexual of offences are heinous and I agree that we should have a sex register whereby the community knows who these perpetrators are so that they may be measured and guarded against such people.
However, when a lawyer receives instructions from a client that they are not guilty, the law entitles them to seek to maintain their liberty by making a bail application. The Crown may object to bail for a number of reasons, for example, they have evidence that the accused will interfere with witnesses or threaten the complainants; or because there is a real risk that the accused will fail to appear in court on subsequent occasions. The whole process of applying for and in this case being rejected for bail, is a matter whereby the court has to balance many different competing interests such as the right to liberty to the accused and the concerns that are prevalent within society.
I hope that this response offers some clarity to your question. But as a closing thought, imagine for one moment, if you were falsely accused of something but due to the way the justice system works, you could not produce evidence until the trial, perhaps 6 months from the time of your being charged, to defend yourself and your name. Of course in the meantime, people will call you all sorts of names and you will have a certain stigma over your head, but perhaps the chance of maintaining your liberty would bring some peace of mind while awaiting your trial. I am sure that you would hope that you had someone going to bat for you to protect your interests while charges were being laid against you. The judicial process takes time.
In time, the courts will decide whether or not he is innocent or guilty as charged.
Dear Mr. Daniels,
Thank you for taking the time to explain. My comments were not meant to be directed as a criticism AT you specifically, but since you address me specifically, I feel compelled to respond. I appreciate that you have a job to do, someone has to do it and I could never do it, nor would I want to.
However, in this particular case I cannot imagine how the charges would be brought if there was no evidence whatsoever to support them. No doubt this does happen, but I don’t see it here. If I were interviewed as a potential juror, I would surely be excused. I ask hypothetically as I know you are unable to answer–was this the (alleged)perpetrator’s first attempt? Has he attacked others before? Since he seemed determined to continue his pursuit, how many more would have been attacked, had he not been stopped? I respect your comments, but now I ask you to consider the following I found on Wikipedia:
“Victims of rape can be severely traumatized by the assault and may have difficulty functioning as well as they had been used to prior to the assault, with disruption of concentration, sleeping patterns and eating habits, for example. They may feel jumpy or be on edge. After being raped, it is common for the victim to experience acute stress disorder, including symptoms similar to those of posttraumatic stress disorder, such as intense, sometimes unpredictable emotions, and they may find it hard to deal with their memories of the event.[30][31] In the months immediately following the assault, these problems may be severe and upsetting and may prevent the victim from revealing their ordeal to friends or family, or seeking police or medical assistance. Additional symptoms of Acute Stress Disorder include:[31]
depersonalization or dissociation (feeling numb and detached, like being in a daze or a dream, or feeling that the world is strange and unreal)
difficulty remembering important parts of the assault
reliving the assault through repeated thoughts, memories, or nightmares
avoidance of things, places, thoughts, and/or feelings that remind the victim of the assault
anxiety or increased alertness (difficulty sleeping, concentrating, etc.)
avoidance of social life or place of rape
For one-third to one-half of the victims, these symptoms continue beyond the first few months and meet the conditions for the diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder.[30][32][33] In general, rape and sexual assault are among the most common causes of PTSD in women.[32]”
I don’t know what statistics may exist which might indicate whether or not a serial rapist will progress to even more heinous crimes, but these crimes, had they not been interrupted, could possibly have (God forbid) given you a murder case to defend. I am remembering the travesty of the Rebecca Middleton case right now and it horiffies me. I also read with sadness the memoriam in the paper today for Rihanna Moore. Innocent until proven guilty? Perhaps the law says so, but there are numerous examples of women against whom horrific crimes have been perpetrated and I wonder where the justice is for THEM? It is clearly not a perfect system, but it is the best we have.
If your client is acquitted, (and if he IS guilty, I sincerely hope his sentence is long and extraordinarily painful),I would like to ask you if YOU will still feel his anonymity should be protected? Will you still feel satisfied that your wife, daughter, sister, should feel free to enjoy and be completely safe walking at 8:30am in broad daylight on a beautiful Saturday morning, minding their own business, when in an instant, their life (and that of their friends and family, by extension) is changed–horribly, unimaginably and irrevocably FOREVER? Would you feel as charitable to the accused then?
I have always wondered how people who do the job you do (and I mean this honestly and in a broad sense, not as a personal attack on you) are able to sleep at night, having defended people who have done evil and horrific deeds, and because of faults in the justice system or whatever, have been released back into society, often to re-offend. I guess that is where a person’s faith comes in that justice for the victims may not come in this world, but it will surely come in the next.
What if a woman close to you was one of these women attacked and this same man was the suspect asking you to defend him….would you still defend him on the basis that he’s “innocent until proven guilty”?
All of these questions are valid. First and foremost I am human so of course there are challenges in the course of my work, but professionalism demands that we do not mingle our roles with others aspects of the judicial process. I appreciate all of your comments so I did not take it as an attack on my character or on my profession as a whole. Many of my friends and family ask me why or how I do what I do. I think that is a very valid question.
Let me give an example of a case from the past in this jurisdiction that I was briefed about from my partner in my law practice. There was a gentleman seen in an area prowling. He was peeping in windows and masturbating to the women he saw therein. There was someone who witnessed the alleged perpetrator. The witness called the police and identified the man as being of a specific race and wearing certain clothing. The police responded and found a man in the area of the same description. He was arrested and processed and subsequently charged and I believe convicted. Later it was determined that there was another man who was committing the same crime. It eventually came to light that the person who was originally arrested was later determined (I am not sure if by forensic tools) that he was NOT the perpetrator. In that instance justice was not served until much later when the real perpetrator admitted to his wrong doing.
What is the point of the analogy? Well as a defense lawyer, sorry to say I think it is better for 10 guilty men to go free than 1 innocent individual to be detained of their liberty and ostracized and branded as criminal.
As a young attorney I have felt challenged during the course of my work, but remember, I was not there when the crime was committed and in most instances neither were the police, the prosecutor or the judge. Each of these characters has a respective role to play. It is for the prosecutor to produce evidence and try to persuade the judge or jury that the accused is guilty. A defense lawyer’s role, is to articulate the instructions of their client, and to undermine the evidence according to the instructions which they are given. The judge clearly ensures that the judicial process is followed/applied correctly and the jury are the deciders of fact and essentially guilt or innocence.
People ask well what if you know your client is guilty. Often I respond how can I say that they are. Clearly, on occasion an individual may admit to their wrong doing and therefore defense counsel seek to argue the best sentence or judgment in their favor. It is no different for a civil lawyer in matrimonial proceedings fighting over the custody or access to children or commercial lawyers fighting for their client’s commercial interests even at the expense of their opposition. Of course, lawyers have built a bad reputation in some quarters for the way that they are perceived. But our work no matter which side or aspect of the law should always be carried out wi decorum.
I agree that much of our judicial system requires serious reconsideration. I do not believe that our citizens should have criminal records for a spliff. I do believe that life should be life for murder after all avenues of appeal have been exhausted. As members of the community it is our duty to petition to our legislators for the desired outcomes of the law. This requires public activism on our part.
As far as sleep goes, ohonestly when I finish my work I go straight sleep usually because it is after midnight and this career path is exhaustive as those of us who are truly dedicated seek to sharper our swords constantly and improve our craft and often we carry the burden of our client’s their families and our own emotive responses.
In closing, there is nothing more scary to me than having someone’s fate in my hands and not giving it my all. This is the duty and burden of counsel. I saw a very good movie the other day called the Lincoln lawyer. There was a lot of truth in that movie and a lot of fiction. But the role of defense lawyers is not to get people off at all costs but to apply the law, balance instructions and essentially be the voice of the accused at al times. I love what I do and I feel the honor in it, but of course I appreciate the opinions of those who have not experienced or understand the whole process and I would never seek to dominant the emotions and logic of those who cannot understand how we do what we do.
Peace and love.
As far as defending someone who was alleged to attack one of my family, of course, I could not act. There would be a clear conflict of interest. And I would be seeking justice as any ordinary member of our society. That is why defense counsel must be impartial, balanced, measured and apply common sense. Mny times a lawyer will advise their client there is no point in fighting this because he evidence is overwhelming but if the client says they didn’t do it, we are not there to act as judges and nail them to the cross. Procesutors also should be balanced. People who commit crimes often do so out of desperation, circumstances, bad choices or even due to mental illness or perhaps trauma of their own. This is not a science per se as human behavior cannot be scripted in a book.
As far as defending people, well I know I have been guilty of many things and have done wrong in my lifetime, it is call being human and therefore I have chosen to defend people who may otherwise lack the voice to defend their rights. The bible talks about let he who has no sin cast the first stone. That doesn’t mean that no one should be punished for their wrong doing, but I truly see the light in people and potential for redemption. I can honestly say that I have yet to come across an individual that I considered evil, despite some having done bad things.
Of course a victim’s pain should never be dismissed and that is why I said before all one can do is show respect in their actions and never seek to further victimize the victim unnecessarily.
I have come very late to this discussion, so you may not ever see this, but I want to record the fact that I admire not only your response, but that you chose to respond at all.
Thank you>
THRU AWAY THE KEY WE DO NOT NEED HIM OUT!!!!!!