Anette's Case — Drive Licence Suspended — Witness

Client:  Anette, Complainant
Accused:  Harvey, driver of another vehicle
Charge:  Drive While Licence Suspended, Highway Traffic Act

Background:  Anette was a nervous wreck. She was in tears as she related her story. She had been involved in a serious auto accident. She had been seriously injured. The other driver was Harvey. Harvey had been driving with a suspended licence. After the accident, the police charged Harvey with driving while his licence was suspended. His trial was just around the corner. Anette had been subpoenaed to testify. The investigating officer wanted to interview her. Anette knew that she had to attend Court to testify, but, for personal reasons, she did not want to cooperate any further. Anette was concerned that the investigating officer was growing more and more aggressive. The officer felt she was being uncooperative. She was feeling bullied and threatened. Before seeing me, Anette had spoken to a friend who was also a police officer. He had called the investigating officer in an attempt to ameliorate the situation. That only infuriated the investigating officer.

Goals:  Anette wanted the bullying to stop. She also wanted to minimize her involvement in this case.

Strategy:  The first order of business was to ensure that Anette understood that she had absolutely no obligation to cooperate with the investigating officer. Although the Highway Traffic Act requires drivers involved in accidents to provide a statement to the police — see Chester's case, for example — Anette had already done that. She had no legal obligation to further cooperate, though she would, of course, have to attend Court and testify. The second order of business was to place myself between Anette and the investigating officer. I wrote both the investigating officer and the prosecutor informing them that Anette did not want to be contacted by either of them, and that, if they wished any information from her, they should fax me their request in writing.

Results:  The investigating officer immediately backed off. The calls to Anette stopped. The investigating officer and the prosecutor requested a statement from Anette. I encouraged Anette to provide the statement. I felt that, once the prosecutor had read Anette's anticipated evidence, the prosecutor would tell Anette not to come to Court. We faxed them a statement. The prosecutor telephoned me afterwards to cancel Anette's Court appearance. The investigating officer never bothered her again.