Prima Facie: Special Edition (NHB Modern Plays)

group of five of them.

They’re a different breed.
It’s all corporate contracts.
Yawn.

They a

Berating myself:
‘You didn’t scream or kick enough,’
‘You froze, in the middle of it all you just froze – what’s wrong
with you?’
‘You’re pathetic – you let him sleep in your bed after he had

The lived experience of sexual assault is not remembered in a
neat, consistent, scientific parcel.

But I will tell you what I have lost;
I have lost my dignity and my sense of self
I have lost my career path, friends, peace of mind, my safety.
The sense of joy in my sexuality.
But most of all, I have lost my faith in this,
the law,
the system I believed would protect me.
The system I dedicated my life to.’

Voir Dire
aka
Finding One’s Voice

With clarity. &
lsquo;Julian had both of my wrists in one of his hands, pulled high
above my head.
And his other hand over my mouth and my nose as well –
I could barely breathe.’
I’m shaking.
My eyes on Julian now.
How dare you? How dare you?
And why am I up here being made to look like a liar?
Julian doesn’t meet my eye.
He looks over to his family, his father gives him a confident
nod.
The KC apologises for making me uncomfortable.
He’s being nice to me now,
and like every victim I have cross-examined before
I fall for it.
I ache for niceness.

Yes.
Yes.
No.
No.
I think so.
No it was the second time.
Yes I think so,
sorry?
No.
Yes I’m sure.
I don’t know.
Maybe my idea.
I think so.
Do I agree?
Yes.
Yes,
yes.
A few.
Quite a few, yes.
Six.
Well perhaps,
yes, maybe eight.
Richard
on his feet.
‘Your Honour.

‘Never assume anyone is telling you the truth – even yourself.
There is no real truth, only legal truth.
Don’t trust your gut instincts only your legal instincts.
You will get it wrong if you think you know what will happen.

But, a lawyer’s job is not that grand – uh uh – the job is not to
KNOW.
It’s to NOT know.
The only way the system works is because we all play our roles.
My role is defence,
the prosecutor prosecutes;
we each tell a story
and the jury DECIDE which story is the one they believe. They
take the responsibility.
A good lawyer just tells the best version of their client’s story.
Nothing more.
Nothing else.
Just the storyteller, the voice piece.
Never judge,
never ever judge.
Never decide!