Maybe this might help illustrate things.
A few weeks ago, Shell was accosted in the street and assaulted by a complete bastard of our unfortunate acquaintance. Basically he dragged her from the public pavement onto a car park, spat in her face (common assault) then pushed, punched and kicked her to make her leave - he claims he used reasonable force to protect himself. Then he spun her around, grabbed hold of the scarf she wears and started to throttle her with it, causing her necklace to cut into her neck.
A woman passerby saw the commotion and ran to alert a nearby police van. They called another van for backup and went to investigate. They took statements from the assailant and his three mates, but not from Shell. Nor from me, even though I was on the phone to her throughout. They let the passerby leave.
Sunday morning, less than twenty-four hours later, we got a voicemail saying the police were happy to close the case, as the statements bore out his version of events. Also they hadn't even looked at the CCTV footage, which they knew they couldn't access until Monday morning. Now, despite showing interest in reopening the investigation and because they dragged their feet, the camera footage has been destroyed (and the bastard himself told Shell he did that) and there is no evidence to support a charge of assault. Medically-documented bruising notwithstanding.
Basically from the point of view of our wonderfully incompetent boys and girls in blue, there is nothing to distinguish one side's word from the other.
A few weeks ago, Shell was accosted in the street and assaulted by a complete bastard of our unfortunate acquaintance. Basically he dragged her from the public pavement onto a car park, spat in her face (common assault) then pushed, punched and kicked her to make her leave - he claims he used reasonable force to protect himself. Then he spun her around, grabbed hold of the scarf she wears and started to throttle her with it, causing her necklace to cut into her neck.
A woman passerby saw the commotion and ran to alert a nearby police van. They called another van for backup and went to investigate. They took statements from the assailant and his three mates, but not from Shell. Nor from me, even though I was on the phone to her throughout. They let the passerby leave.
Sunday morning, less than twenty-four hours later, we got a voicemail saying the police were happy to close the case, as the statements bore out his version of events. Also they hadn't even looked at the CCTV footage, which they knew they couldn't access until Monday morning. Now, despite showing interest in reopening the investigation and because they dragged their feet, the camera footage has been destroyed (and the bastard himself told Shell he did that) and there is no evidence to support a charge of assault. Medically-documented bruising notwithstanding.
Basically from the point of view of our wonderfully incompetent boys and girls in blue, there is nothing to distinguish one side's word from the other.
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second. That means there's a situation vacant.'
