Appeal judges have allowed a ‘terrified’ man to give evidence against the two women who allegedly assaulted him by video link from hundreds of miles away from court.
James Clark, 32, didn’t want to go to Peterhead Sheriff Court to give testimony against 19-year-old Jennifer Cordiner and Holly McKenzie, 20.
Prosecutors claim the pair repeatedly punched and kicked Mr Clark before striking him on the head with a glass bottle.
The pair are also said to have stabbed Mr Clark’s face with the glass bottle before punching and kicking him on the head and body at his home in the town.
The alleged attack supposedly left Mr Clark severely injured and permanently disfigured and he left his property in Love Lane, Peterhead, to start a new life in Cumbria.
The procurator fiscal at Peterhead applied to a sheriff there in December 2016 for permission to allow Mr Clark to give evidence using a CCTV link to Cumbria.
The fiscal stated that if Mr Clark had to give evidence in person there would be concerns that it would affect the quality of his testimony. However, the sheriff refused to grant permission to the fiscal’s request.
The judge stated that “no cause had been shown” to persuade him to allow Mr Clark to give evidence via video link.
On Thursday, at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh judges Lady Paton, Lord Malcolm and Lord Turnbull overturned the sheriff’s decision. In a written judgement issued at the court, Lady Paton ruled that the sheriff, who hasn’t been identified, interpreted the law incorrectly when they issued their decision.
She added: “What is important, in our view, is the fact that there is a significant risk that the quality of Mr Clark’s evidence will be diminished by reason of his fear and distress in connection with giving evidence at the trial.”
