Lamb to the slaughter

Lamb to the slaughter

By: Max Szuca

Max Szuca relives the nightmare scenario of wrongfully being found guilty of sexual offences, in no small measure due to inadequate legal representation

On 17 November 2006 I was convicted on five counts of sexual assault and one count of gross indecent assault, and sentenced to 7 years imprisonment.

During the next 12 months, my trial counsel repeatedly insisted there were no grounds for appeal, and I shall forever be left wondering why they continued to take this stance ... it beggars belief, and I can only assume they were prepared to let me rot in prison as a cover up for their abject failures at trial.

During those 12 months of imprisonment, my family and friends began a campaign for justice on my behalf; starting with a website and fund-raising events to raise enough money for transcripts of my trial and legal advice. After knocking on many doors, early in 2008 their tremendous hard work paid off with what they had put forward in layman’s terms for my appeal.

They passed my case onto a registrar and from there to a single judge, who then appointed me with new counsel to represent me for the appeal. After a legal visit at HMP Littlehey with my new counsel, I began to renew my faith in the legal system.

On 9 July 2008, my convictions were quashed as being ‘unsafe’ due to trial failures to call relevant evidence and witnesses, about which I would have relied upon for my defence. Also undisclosed evidence was withheld by the police which would have most certainly helped my defence.

So what went wrong you may ask? Firstly, my family and I made a huge mistake in going down our local high street seeking advice from the nearest firm of solicitors, who we now know (to our cost) were quite clearly out of their depth in such a stigmatised case. Their ‘professionalism’ can be summed up with their last words to me shortly before I was due in court. I expected a clear and precise picture of how they were to proceed at my trial; instead, their words to me were (quote) … "We will play it by ear".

My case was one of malicious allegations with no evidence, i.e. no DNA, no witnesses and no corroboration - just the words of another; and those words were made very clear to the court that could be credible and the complainant’s words must be held as paramount. There was no real investigation by the police; my family and I knew if people were to be traced and statements taken from them then the words of the complainant could have been blown totally out of the water.

As far as the CPS are concerned, all the defendant has to do is to admit that the complainant was in his or her company or at the home of the defendant. They will then find themselves in court and the courtroom becomes a lottery as to whether they are found guilty or not.

Looking back now at my trial, ‘innocent until proven guilty’ and ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ simply did not take place. I was left like a lamb to the slaughter and, believe me, what happened to me could have happened to any member of your family and there is not one single thing you can do about it, apart from put your faith in the legal system.

I was a very lucky man indeed to have the support and resolve of my family and friends. The campaign to prove my innocence took hold of many people who sat on the fence simply because of the stigma attached. Some wanted to know more … asking questions like, ‘surely there must have been some sort of hard evidence against me or I would not have been found guilty?’ When they were shown the facts from the transcripts of my trial, they were totally shocked that a person could have been found guilty just on the words of another.

I do not pretend for one moment to know the answers in such cases, however these types of crimes do happen, let's not kid ourselves that they don’t, and there is something fundamentally wrong with how some of these cases end up in the courts in the first place.

However, I cannot end my story here - having lost my original battle in the court and then entering prison life, little did I know that a whole new battle awaited me from those upon high in HMP Littlehey.

I was branded a paedophile and there is nowhere to hide for anyone who maintains their innocence. Right from the start, I was pressured and blackmailed into taking the offender related courses. I was told that if I did not participate, I would not be able to return to my home town after release from prison and that I would not get parole. Whilst I fully understand the reasoning behind such courses, how on earth can you fit a round peg into a square hole? Some might say that those upon high are ‘only doing their jobs’, yet it beggars belief how one could sacrifice their innocence with such blatant tasks.

I also feel I should touch on the probation service at HMP Littlehey, who are a law unto themselves and appear to answer to no one. I regard them as being no better than drunken pub louts on a Friday night - when a person has been knocked to the floor, they would put the boot in. From first hand experience at HMP Littlehey, regardless of the type of crime, they will at every opportunity twist and manufacture their reports. How can they keep getting away with this? And if you think my words about probation at Littlehey are not true, then I challenge you to read the case notes of my case and the transcripts of my trial, and then compare them to the report given by the probation service.