Press Officer Rick Purnell writes............

Paul Walton J.P. a Presiding Justice, Appraiser and Mentor with South & West Devon Adult, Criminal & Family Court challenged Teignmouth Probus club members at their October meeting to sit as a magistrate’s bench, hear the evidence and pronounce a judgement.

This was part two of an earlier talk about the work of the Magistracy in Devon. The case centred on plea of not guilty to a charge of actual bodily harm following an altercation in a pub when a group of ‘locals’ came in and took objection to a customer calling him ‘names’ and wanting to throw him out. After a scuffle, a punch was thrown by the assailant causing the victim’s nose to bleed and hitting his head on a table as he fell. Mitigation being ‘self-defence’.

Speaker Paul presented the witnesses statements from the arresting officer, the publican, the customers partner, the victim and assailant and others. As the case progressed, the Justice advised the members of the ‘rules’ for the Crown Prosecution’s role, pre case preparation procedures, evidence gathering and how witness evidence is weighted by independence, strength & reliability and corroborative support and how ‘no comment’ or ‘silence’ is dealt with.

As expected, the audience had many varied ‘takes’ and all did not fully agree but there was a majority of opinion with the actual outcome of the case. Then followed sentencing and the current guidelines magistrates are required to follow. Whilst the members were somewhat harder with the punishment, a better understanding of the process and intentions were more appreciated.  

The ensuing Q&A and discussions caused an overrun of time emphasising the interest our speaker generated with the assembled company thanking Paul for a most stimulating presentation.