The Crown v Gerard Baden-Clay, 1st July - Trial Day 13, Week 3

Her Honour said:

You have lured me out of lurkdom with that collective thanks from the Greatest Hits of Websleuths! To put it in GBCspeak, nobody ever thanks me. I was a bit touched. *Tears*

Two things:

'There were occasions when I was effectively sleeping with Toni for the sake of the business.' It's fair to say then, if that's true, that you probably weren't doing it right?

Secondly, and to be fair to the accused, we're not reading transcript here, but it seems that to date, he has answered that he doesn't know, or can't recall, in response to two important questions only:

1. He cannot state with certainty the last occasion upon which he saw/was 'intimate with' his mistress in 2012; and
2. He does not know how he arrived at today's date in his, by his own admission, empty promise.

This is in stark contrast to the level of detail provided regarding far less significant matters. He cannot have it both ways. He'd have been better off doing the Carmen Lawrence/can't recall defence in its entirety and letting the jurors form their own view about that, OR being brutally honest (not faux honest) about EVERYTHING.

My mother always advised me (as mothers are wont to do) that you should never put in writing anything you wouldn't want the whole world to read. This is particularly true in an electronic age. I believe that the '1 July' (and, heartbreakingly for ALL, here we are, two years on) email could be his undoing. It either WAS his Grand Plan to have his dire situation 'sorted' by then, or he is an habitual liar who makes for a thoroughly unreliable witness. Either way, that email is a major problem for him and it just cannot be explained away.

I have sat through so many (admittedly only civil) trials, as an instructing solicitor, furiously scribbling notes as witnesses give their versions. I can honestly say I have never heard or read such bizarre, unstructured testimony. I have to keep reminding myself that this evidence is being led IN HIS OWN DEFENCE. If you stumbled (squeezed) into that Court yesterday by accident, you'd be forgiven for thinking he was the star witness for the prosecution. Please note that in saying that, I am NOT criticising his lawyers (because you just know that if he is convicted, he sure will: 'they just stopped working/passed out/I was doing everything'). I have a very high opinion of, in particular, his solicitor. They can only work with what they've got.

Still hoping, against hope, that there is an explanation for the death of a beloved mother other than that a supremely selfish person backed into a corner lost his temper, or that murder was seen as an expedient means of solving myriad, serious personal and professional problems.

Happy birthday, Allison June Baden-Clay. It is a tragedy that you are not here to share it with those who loved you so. You, your experiences and the very many lessons you have taught us will not be forgotten.

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drsleuth said:

Happy Birthday Allison, you should be here to celebrate with your beautiful family & girls.

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Her Honour said:

You have lured me out of lurkdom with that collective thanks from the Greatest Hits of Websleuths! To put it in GBCspeak, nobody ever thanks me. I was a bit touched. *Tears*

Two things:

'There were occasions when I was effectively sleeping with Toni for the sake of the business.' It's fair to say then, if that's true, that you probably weren't doing it right?

Secondly, and to be fair to the accused, we're not reading transcript here, but it seems that to date, he has answered that he doesn't know, or can't recall, in response to two important questions only:

1. He cannot state with certainty the last occasion upon which he saw/was 'intimate with' his mistress in 2012; and
2. He does not know how he arrived at today's date in his, by his own admission, empty promise.

This is in stark contrast to the level of detail provided regarding far less significant matters. He cannot have it both ways. He'd have been better off doing the Carmen Lawrence/can't recall defence in its entirety and letting the jurors form their own view about that, OR being brutally honest (not faux honest) about EVERYTHING.

My mother always advised me (as mothers are wont to do) that you should never put in writing anything you wouldn't want the whole world to read. This is particularly true in an electronic age. I believe that the '1 July' (and, heartbreakingly for ALL, here we are, two years on) email could be his undoing. It either WAS his Grand Plan to have his dire situation 'sorted' by then, or he is an habitual liar who makes for a thoroughly unreliable witness. Either way, that email is a major problem for him and it just cannot be explained away.

I have sat through so many (admittedly only civil) trials, as an instructing solicitor, furiously scribbling notes as witnesses give their versions. I can honestly say I have never heard or read such bizarre, unstructured testimony. I have to keep reminding myself that this evidence is being led IN HIS OWN DEFENCE. If you stumbled (squeezed) into that Court yesterday by accident, you'd be forgiven for thinking he was the star witness for the prosecution. Please note that in saying that, I am NOT criticising his lawyers (because you just know that if he is convicted, he sure will: 'they just stopped working/passed out/I was doing everything'). I have a very high opinion of, in particular, his solicitor. They can only work with what they've got.

Still hoping, against hope, that there is an explanation for the death of a beloved mother other than that a supremely selfish person backed into a corner lost his temper, or that murder was seen as an expedient means of solving myriad, serious personal and professional problems.

Happy birthday, Allison June Baden-Clay. It is a tragedy that you are not here to share it with those who loved you so. You, your experiences and the very many lessons you have taught us will not be forgotten.

Click to expand...