Jury members hug abuse victim in ‘unprecedented’ show at sentencing

IT was, in the words of one seasoned care worker who has attended numerous rape trials over the years, “unprecedented”.

She had just witnessed a young man who had suffered systematic rape and sexual abuse at the hands of his father being hugged by some members of the jury who had convicted his abuser a fortnight earlier.

The fact that such ordinary members of the public, who had been excused future jury service for the rest of their lives at the end of the nine-day trial last month, returned to court to witness its final chapter highlighted how the harrowing case had touched them so deeply.