Wrongly Convicted? - #MeToo!!
Updated: Feb 7, 2022
Boy is this thing unravelling. Who amongst us was nervous when the #MeToo thing was in full, feverish pitch?
I felt very uneasy about the “numbers of women” falling out of the woodwork, up to 30 or 40 years later to complain of life-altering abuse by powerful and famous men. As a man, I felt positively endangered.
Had I asked one too many times in a bar for a drunk girls’ number in 1994? Had I mistakenly thought the new girl in the office wanted to get to know me better and made the grave error of asking her out, only to cause her a lifetime of torment? Or worse? Maybe.
But I’m not Bill Cosby or Kevin Spacey.
I’m not even poor Dr. Rajeshkumar Mehta who, in 2018 began serving 15 months in prison, and had his conviction overturned this week based on “new evidence” about the sole complainant. Turns out he didn’t randomly fondle her breasts after 40 loyal years at the NHS.
How many have suffered the latest witch hunt so far? How many lives have been ruined, families and livelihoods destroyed? I bet their bloody glad we don’t burn people anymore at the hands of an angry mood. We just shred them online and off.
Between June 2019 and March 2020, there were 1,336 successful appeals against both decisions of Magistrates’ courts and the Court of Appeal Criminal Division. Of these,1,272 appeals were against decisions of Magistrates’ courts, including those cases for non-criminal matters, such as licensing and care proceedings in juvenile cases. - Read the full article here
That’s a lot of suffering and a lot of people who may never be able to move on from what I call the “Google Death Sentence”.
Now it seems the fever has died a little on the MeToo thing, for now, and we’re all welcoming a new wave of instant moral outrage online.. about all those Black Lives “finally” mattering. There are new targets, of course. The racist ones. They’ve got it coming too.
I’m all in favour of pedophiles and rapists getting what they deserve (I am the proud father of 4 amazing girls.. some even mixed-race so don’t even start BLM’ing me). BUT not at the expense of calm, rational, natural justice. Ever.
I founded YESpbm having been at the blunt end of a heavy stick or two myself in my time. To help people that had made a mistake and needed to move on, and worse, to help those Wrongly Accused or Convicted. Sadly, there’s more than you would think. DNA that later shows without a doubt that the black lad didn't in fact rape that white girl in an alley 20 years ago (#blm) or new testimony from a witness that clearly vindicates the priest.
So, Bill’s back, and I’m glad. I loved the Cosby show, and Kevin’s work. I grew up in a different time. A time of TV dad’s and family viewing and I for one would hate to see Bill Cosby spend the rest of his all too limited life sat behind bars, hated or forgotten.
There may be an element of truth in the accusations, there may not. What I can say, is there seemed to be little due process, care or consideration in the verdict. Now that’s been corrected.
If you’ve suffered the disaster of being wrongly accused, or convicted, get in touch. We can help get you a fresh start, online and off. It’s what we do. With passion and with compassion. We’ll even work pro bono for the right case so don’t hold back. Why not follow us @YESpbm on Twitter or subscribe here to stay in touch.