Monday 22 July 2024

RDH Trial- Day One

The trial of Richard D Hall has begun; see the link below for background. Day one is over. It was held at the Royal Courts of Justice again and this time the court had made more of an effort to accommodate the large volume of visitors. A second courtroom had been set up with a cloud video platform, a type of CCTV, so the people who were unable to fit into the main courtroom have somewhere else to watch. Richard was represented by a barrister this time; and, as it happened, he turned out to be a right Perry Mason! Mr Price was once again acting for the claimant. There was a different judge this time, a Mrs Justice Steyn. The court officials were "robed" this time, wearing the traditional suits, gowns and wigs. Mr Price began by giving an overview of Mr Hibbert and his daughter's experience since the alleged bomb attack in 2017. I found it unfair that the prosecution is allowed to bring up evidence to support their cause, but Richard is forbidden by the summary judgement. What's more the claimant has himself criticised the Kerslake Report, the official story of the Manchester Arena attack, so why can't Richard? Richard's public views about the incident were described with words like "insulting" and "upsetting", but being insulting is not a crime. Mr Price stated that it doesn't matter whether Richard believes sincerely that the Manchester Arena event was staged; what matters is the damage it does to the people on the receiving end. The prosecution's opening statement was primarily emotional, not factual. Mr Oakley, Richard's barrister said pretty much all the things that I have said before, that this whole case against Richard had the ulterior motive of censorship. Martin Hibbert was called as a witness and most of the rest of the day covered the defence's cross-examination of him. Mr Hibbert acted as if he were still filming with the BBC instead of giving testimony in a courtroom. He spoke of his emotional trauma and fear for his daughter's safety, but at the same time he has sought publicity and is quite happy to appear in major media roles; documentaries, news stories, interviews etc. Nearly all the material Richard has used as evidence to criticize him is in the public domain, much of it published by Mr Hibbert himself. The only exception was when Richard went to Eve Hibbert's home. However, even this is not what it has been portrayed as. Richard did this in July 2019 while Mr Hibbert only found out about it two years later, in the summer of 2021. It was the visits by the police and not Richard that drew the neighbours' attention towards Eve. Mr Oakley also pointed out that, by his own admission, it is not Richard who has caused all of Mr Hibbert's trouble. His injury and mental trauma has. Hibbert gives contradictory dates about when he first heard of Richard as well as vague and uncertain statements about what effect Richard is having on him and his family. Hibbert includes a lot of rhetoric about his dislike generally of conspiracy theories. This makes the barrister question his motives. He brings no evidence at all to the table that supports his claim that Richard has harassed him.
 
Mr Hibbert generally seems very unsure of himself and what exactly he thinks Richard has done wrong. He can't remember the specific videos in which Richard is supposed to have caused him and his daughter so much emotional hurt. Doesn't he remember? I have really been harassed and I know off by heart every word said to me by "Team Droike" and where they said it, see: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2024/04/that-thread.html. Why did Mr Hibbert drag this issue into court? There is a simple statutory commission grievance procedure for breaches of data protection. Mr Hibbert then made the unusual step of criticizing his own legal team for not telling him this. What is really going on here? The trial has begun well for Richard. His barrister did an excellent job. Of course there are up to three more days left to go and the prosecution will get the chance to strike back, but so far so good. I'll be going to London tomorrow for day two.

5 comments:

Gravity Mirror said...

Thank you for doing this report. It gives a very clear picture of what is happening in the courtroom.

Chrissie said...

Great resume, Ben :0)

Ben Emlyn-Jones said...

Many thanks, GM and Chrissie. :-) More tomorrow.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for reporting on this, Ben. Looking forward to your next updates.

GlowTone

Ben Emlyn-Jones said...

You're welcome GT. Day Three is available now.