URGENT !! interfering with witness

[lisalegal]

help please !!

exchange of documents just taken place prior to court hearing

defendant is now interfering with one of my witnesses and accusing the claimant of lies and manipulation of evidence.

what can I do to have this stopped AND brought to the attention of the court?

thank you, Lisa

[teaboy2]

Re: URGENT !! interfering with witness

Hi lisa

I know you have a few threads on here, but a little background on the case would be helpful. Such as what kind of claim is it that the court case is about and a little back ground story etc. Also it would be helpful to keep everything regarding your case in just the 1 thread, so people already following your previous threads would be immediately updated and could advise accordingly. People are not going to go and read all your threads to get the back ground information.

That said, intimidation of a witness is a big NO NO, firstly report the matter to the court itself as they will advise you on what to do. Whether you need to report it to the police or not depends on how serious the level of intimidation is and whether it consitutes criminal harassment of not. But as i said, a little more detail on the case and the a back ground story would help us to help you.

[lisalegal]

Re: URGENT !! interfering with witness

Court advise that there is an Application that can be made regarding intimidation of a witness but they do not know its reference number.

So, that is what I am looking into now.

Apologies for starting new thread but I wanted prominence to try and nip this ridiculous situation in the bud.

regards, Lisa

[teaboy2]

Re: URGENT !! interfering with witness

Hi lisa

Even if you had posted in your original thread, the thread would have been show at the top of the list that you see on the forum home page just under the chat bar.

As for the application itself, i do not think their is an actual form to fill in as i can not find one either - Atleast not for civil court.

Though you must ask the question, is this intimidation i.e. threats to the witness, or is it just plain old harassment in breach of the adminstration of justice act 1970? I would say it is the latter, and that you should add it to your defense against the appeal, as such harassment is a criminal act. I feel you would stand much better ground by going down the harassment route than with the intimidation route. I would also advise you to instruct the witness to contact the police regarding the harassment, informing them that they are a witness to a civil court claim and the appealent is harassing them by accusing them or lying and manipulating the evidence outside of the court prior to the appeal hearing and to obtain a crime reference number. Or perhaps you yourself may inform the police.

[Judge mental]

Re: URGENT !! interfering with witness

Hi Lisa:

Section 39 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001

39 Intimidation of witnesses
(1)A person commits an offence if—.
(a)he does an act which intimidates, and is intended to intimidate, another person (“the victim”);.
(b)he does the act—.
(i)knowing or believing that the victim is or may be a witness in any relevant proceedings; and.
(ii)intending, by his act, to cause the course of justice to be obstructed, perverted or interfered with;.
and
(c)the act is done after the commencement of those proceedings..
(2)For the purposes of subsection (1) it is immaterial—.
(a)whether or not the act that is done is done in the presence of the victim;.
(b)whether that act is done to the victim himself or to another person; and.
(c)whether or not the intention to cause the course of justice to be obstructed, perverted or interfered with is the predominating intention of the person doing the act in question..
(3)If, in proceedings against a person for an offence under this section, it is proved—.
(a)that he did any act that intimidated, and was intended to intimidate, another person, and.
(b)that he did that act knowing or believing that that other person was or might be a witness in any relevant proceedings that had already commenced,.
he shall be presumed, unless the contrary is shown, to have done the act with the intention of causing the course of justice to be obstructed, perverted or interfered with.
(4)A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable—.
(a)on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or to a fine, or to both;.
(b)on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, or to both..
(5)References in this section to a witness, in relation to any proceedings, include references to a person who provides, or is able to provide, any information or any document or other thing which might be used as evidence in those proceedings or which (whether or not admissible as evidence in those proceedings)—.
(a)might tend to confirm evidence which will be or might be admitted in those proceedings;.
(b)might be referred to in evidence given in those proceedings by another witness; or.
(c)might be used as the basis for any cross examination in the course of those proceedings..
(6)References in this section to doing an act include references to issuing any threat (whether against a person or his finances or property or otherwise), or making any other statement..
(7)This section is in addition to, and not in derogation of, any offence subsisting at common law.

Relevant proceedings
(1)A reference in section 39 or 40 to relevant proceedings is a reference to any proceedings in or before the Court of Appeal, the High Court, the Crown Court or any county court or magistrates’ court which—.
(a)are not proceedings for an offence; and.
(b)were commenced after the coming into force of that section.

Hope it helps

Stuart