Witness

by Louise Milligan

From the best-selling author of CARDINAL comes a searing examination of the power imbalance in our legal system - where exposing the truth is never guaranteed and, for victims, justice is often elusive.
A masterful and deeply troubling expose, Witness is the culmination of almost five years' work for award-winning investigative journalist Louise Milligan. Charting the experiences of those who have the courage to come forward and face their abusers in high-profile child abuse and sexual assault cases, Milligan was profoundly shocked by what she found.

During this time, the #MeToo movement changed the zeitgeist, but time and again during her investigations Milligan watched how witnesses were treated in the courtroom and listened to them afterwards as they relived the associated trauma. Then she was a witness herself in the trial of the decade, R v George Pell.

She interviews high-profile members of the legal profession, including judges and prosecutors. And she speaks to the defence lawyers who have worked in these cases, discovering what they really think about victims and the process, and the impact that this has on their own lives. Milligan also reveals never-before-published court transcripts, laying bare the flaws that are ignored, and a court system that can be sexist, unfeeling and weighted towards the rich and powerful.

Witness is a call for change. Milligan exposes the devastating reality of the Australian legal system where truth is never guaranteed and, for victims, justice is often elusive. And even when they get justice,

Genres: Nonfiction, True Crime, Politics, Law, Australia, Feminism, Audiobook

384 pages, Paperback

First published October 27, 2020

About the author

Louise Milligan is a multi-award-winning investigative journalist for ABC TV's Four Corners, the Australian national broadcaster's flagship current affairs documentary program. She is the author of two bestselling non-fiction books: Cardinal, The Rise and Fall of George Pell and Witness, An Investigation into the Brutal Cost of Seeking Justice. Her books have been awarded multiple prizes, including the Walkley Book Award, the Davitt Awards Best Non-Fiction Crime Book, the Melbourne Prize for Literature People's Choice Award, the Victorian Premier's Literary Award's People's Choice prize, the Sir Owen Dixon Chambers Law Reporter of the Year Award, a Press Freedom Medal and a shortlisting for the Stella Prize. Louise's journalism, particularly her coverage of historical institutional child abuse and the experience of women in the criminal justice system and parliament, has broken national and international news, sparked government inquiries and led to profound cultural change and law reform. She started her career in newspapers and is a former High Court correspondent and political reporter. Born in Ireland to an Irish mother and Scottish father, Louise moved to Australia as a child. She lives in Melbourne with her husband and two children. Pheasants Nest is Louise's first novel.

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Witness by Australian investigative journalist Louise Milligan is a frequently harrowing read, even for someone like myself who has no personal history as a survivor of sexual assault or child sexual abuse. As a former practising lawyer, albeit with only a single rape trial under my belt (I was junior counsel for the defendant), I can attest to the accuracy of Milligan's portrayal of the Australian legal system and the way it treats victim-complainants of sexual offences.

"... the notion that a person who is a victim of crime should be so thwarted by the slings and arrows of the criminal justice process that it simply isn't worth the hassle to come forward? Or that, at the end of it, they are left with little but more trauma?" (p.21)

Unlike virtually all other areas of the law, the primary motivation behind the criminal law system is not to establish the "truth" or arrive at a "just" outcome in light of all the surrounding circumstances - it is to ensure that those accused of criminal offences receive a "fair" trial. That is why the higher burden of proof - "beyond reasonable doubt", rather than "on the balance of probabilities" - applies to decisions of guilt or non-guilt made by either a judicial officer (judge or magistrate) or jury. The rationale for this has its roots in English common law, and a concept known as "Blackstone's formulation" - "It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer.". That is, the personal freedom of alleged perpetrators is viewed by the law as being a higher ideal than the expectations alleged victims might have that their alleged abusers be brought to justice and face legal consequences.

My frequent use of the term "alleged" arises from another well-known concept underpinning the criminal law, that all accused persons must be regarded as "innocent, until proven guilty", a notion that is not in fact enshrined in Australian domestic law, but arises from Australia's international legal obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), specifically article 14(2) of that covenant. In effect, this means that the role of defence counsel in cross examining alleged victims is to undermine their testimony - creating the reasonable doubt that will lead to their client's acquittal. It also means that juries in sexual offence cases must not be made aware that the accused faces more than one accusation of a similar nature (excepting the very narrow circumstances in which an accused may face charges relating to more than one victim in a single trial), or that he or she has been convicted of any number of similar charges in the past.

But where does that leave victims of horrendous sexual assault and/or traumatic child sexual abuse? What reasons are there for victims to pursue justice, given the relatively small likelihood that an offender will even face trial, let alone be convicted? What changes could be made to our current legal system that would provide greater support to the victims of crime? Those are the issues that Louise Milligan explores in Witness.

Milligan relates the experience of several high-profile survivors of sexual assault and/or child sexual abuse, including Saxon Mullins, Paris Street, the unnamed complainant in the Nicholas Weston trial and one of the several complainants against Cardinal George Pell.

Milligan also describes her own experience as a non-complainant witness in Cardinal Pell's committal proceedings, during which she faced an attempted - but mercifully failed - evisceration by prominent Melbourne criminal defence barrister Robert Richter, QC. The trauma and stress Milligan endures as a well-resourced and supported witness is visceral, and as she points out more than once, she - unlike a complainant witness - was not required to relive a personal sexual assault in excruciating and prurient detail. Complainants are accorded no higher status than any other witness for the prosecution of an offender, are not generally entitled to their own legal representation in court, and frequently reflect that their experiences at trial were at least as traumatic, if not more so, than the original sexual assault.

Given my professional background, I've long been troubled by the dichotomy between the rights of accused persons to a fair trial and so-called "victim's rights". The legal system has made small improvements in some areas but there are still major problems in the way these cases are conducted. Some well-meant measures, such as the facility for vulnerable witnesses to give their testimony remotely and the legislative regulation of public reporting on sexual offence trials, actually seem to have backfired in the form of reduced convictions and the muzzling of victims who want to speak out about their experiences.

I found Witness a well-researched, timely and persuasive read. Milligan's scathing assessment of certain elements within the criminal bar is well-aimed and thoughtful. The section in which she relates her personal experience of facing cross-examination is gruelling but representative of the way the system and its players work. Witness unashamedly tackles the subject matter from the perspective of those who feel the justice system has failed them and hence Milligan has faced significant criticism (including vicious online trolling of the type she relates in the book) from opponents whose position is more orientated to those who find themselves accused. Indeed, she has spent much of 2021 embroiled in defending what many (including myself) consider to be ill-conceived defamation proceedings related to another notorious sexual assault allegation she investigated for Four Corners and to which she very briefly alludes late in Witness. I'll wait with bated breath for her book exploring the myriad issues of justice, probity and political interference that that allegation has generated.

I'd recommend Witness to those who admire excellence in investigative journalism, to those with a particular interest in the intricacies of the criminal justice system and as a timely exploration of modern Australian culture as it relates to gender politics, the law and our concepts of "justice". It's a pretty heavy read at times, and there are significant triggers for those who bear the trauma of sexual abuse, sexual assault and/or exposure to the criminal justice system. Even as someone who hasn't suffered directly from sexual abuse and/or assault, I found much of the narrative so confronting that I had to read and digest the book's content in small sections over a couple of weeks.

Viva La Milligan - we desperately need more like her!

[Schizanthus Nerd · Rating 4 out of 5]

An analysis by The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald newspapers of sexual assault statistics published in September 2019 found that of the 52,396 sexual assaults reported to NSW Police between 2009 and 2018, charges were only laid in 12,894 cases.
Of the 12,894, 7629 went to court. Of those, 2308 were dropped at trial, 1494 found not guilty. The remaining 3827, or roughly 50 per cent of the total that went to court, were found guilty. That’s just 7 per cent of the cases that originally went to police.

I’m one of the 39,502 whose report to the police resulted in no charges being laid. Because there were no witnesses. Because the detective who took my statement didn’t even know how to classify the crime that was committed. [I checked. Section 61I of the Crimes Act 1900 No 40 says it has a name. It’s called sexual assault.] Because the second detective I spoke to didn’t believe me. Because the entire police investigation consisted of the second detective asking my psychologist if I had a mental illness that would cause me to make something like this up.

After reading this book I’m grateful that my retraumatisation was only at the hands of the police, that I never had to experience cross-examination in court, where

complainants and witnesses are treated like they are the villains, in order to defend the accused.

This book was an eye-opener in the most brutal way. I already knew the court system in Australia didn’t do any favours for people who have experienced violent crimes. I didn’t realise it was this bad.

I learned about the culture within the legal community, ensuring barristers are seen as not having been affected by the horrific offences they are defending. Without being able to acknowledge their own vicarious trauma or get help for it, barristers disregard the impact of trauma on victims they cross-examine in their courtrooms, making it easier to dehumanise them and rip holes in their testimony.

This is a system where teenagers are called ‘madam’ to make it sound as though they are older than they are. Where children are not allowed to take teddy bears with them when they testify because their presence would remind the jury that the victim is a child. Where the accused has a lawyer protecting their rights in court but the victim doesn’t. Where barristers behave towards victims in ways that would get you fired in pretty much any other job, but it’s mostly allowed because in court it’s all about establishing reasonable doubt.

And that’s where we come to that oft-repeated phrase from victims - that the cross-examination was as bad, if not worse, than the original abuse.
Psychologist Michelle Epstein says her patients who go through the court process generally say they would recommend others not to do it.

My take-away from this book?

If you’re sexually assaulted in Australia and your case is one of the few that actually makes it to court, you’re likely to wish it hadn’t. There you can expect to be traumatised at a level on par, if not more so, than the abuse you experienced to get you there in the first place.

This is a real indictment on the legal system (I almost said justice system but it appears justice is but a pipe dream for most survivors). Until real change occurs (and this is a system that moves imperceptibly slow, so don’t hold your breath), I predict that fewer survivors will feel safe enough to report what happened to them and perpetrators are going to keep on perpetrating, knowing, statistically, they’re very unlikely to be punished for their crimes.

‘It’s like you are alive, and you’re having an autopsy done on you.’
Julie Stewart

People who actually have the power to make a difference need to read this book immediately! Well written as it is, it made me feel so sad and angry, and utterly powerless. Now that I’m suitably dejected and disillusioned, I’m going to take a much needed mental health break. If you’d care to join me, I’ll be floating on a cloud made of cotton candy and hanging out with some unicorns.

Content warnings include mention of death by suicide, mental health, sexual assault and suicidal ideation.

Blog - https://schizanthusnerd.com

[Kate Booth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Louise Milligan’s razor sharp take on the failings and opportunities for the Australian criminal justice system to improve the experience for survivors (aka witnesses) is like nothing I’ve read before. In the same vain as her journalism, her ability to bring empathy to both witnesses and legal practitioners is on full display in her long form writing. She presents current recommendations for reform of the legal system in all its complexity, a system which has been failing victims for too long.

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

An exhaustive, impassioned account of the Australian justice system which finds our courts failing to first do no harm. This book is rightly detailed and dense, but nonetheless felt a little shapeless structurally.

[Jennifer (JC-S) · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘You don’t sleep the night before that first day in court.’

I am uncomfortable. I am angry. I am sad. No wonder so few victims of sexual abuse make it to court. Forget justice, think of the pain of being retraumatised as you live through the experience (or experiences) again and again. In this book, Ms Milligan writes of those survivors courageous enough to go to court. And there’s Ms Milligan’s account of her own experience as a witness and her harrowing report of cross-examination when she was called as a witness in the trial of R v George Pell.

‘Most had lived with the pain but had never been through the legal process. It was all too much.
Meeting them always reaffirmed the sense of doing all of this for the right reasons. Thinking of them now reaffirms why I am writing this book.’

I read this book torn between admiration for those brave enough to try to seek justice and furious at a process which retraumatises victims and seems to take no account of the trauma already suffered. Surely, Australia, we can do better than this in the twenty-first century? Adversarial court proceedings where aggressive well-paid defence lawyers seem to determine outcomes, regardless of truth? Ms Milligan worked on this book for almost five years: speaking with courageous victims, with doctors, with members of the legal profession including judges, prosecutors, and defence lawyers.

‘Why does the court system allow adults to speak to kids in a way that might see them dismissed if they treated a young person like that in the workplace.’

Read it and weep, but read it.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

[Toni Kely-Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars - this was ok and I liked it but not quite 3 stars. The subject matter is compelling and the author is compassionate and articulate about the problems with our "justice" system and why witnesses don't want to go court and be cross-examined for sexual crimes (predominately women and children). Even victims (the complainant) is known as a "witness" to their own crime! The descriptions in the book and the authors own personal experience as a witness for a complainant describes how the system's need to prove an accused beyond reasonable doubt comes with a cost of cross-examination that is traumatic and unnecessarily cruel (despite recent legislative changes to disallow questioning that aligns with rape myths by the defense).

However, at the halfway point, I started to get impatient and lose interest. I found myself skimming due to the detail, much of which felt repetitive at times. If this had been a more structured, tightly edited book it would have been a 4/5 star read.

[holly stathakis · Rating 4 out of 5]

gosh this took me so long to read.

such a powerful and gripping and confronting start. i had a panic attack when i was probably 30 pages in, but i’m glad i kept reading.

this book raises a plethora of issues within our criminal justice system, backed by extensive research and varying testimony. i just feel it got quite convoluted, like she was trying to address as much as she could (which i understand), but it just didn’t really flow.

the end was really interesting for me on a legal policy level. as someone who is about to finish their law degree, who has quite an insightful understanding of our legal process, yet has my own private trauma and who is ultimately biased in this forum, i wonder what would it be like for a victim to have legal representation (especially in sexual assault trials), and how would this interfere with the accused’s right to procedural fairness? what is the correct answer to this question of, how do we protect victims and prevent retraumatisation, whilst also upholding the golden principle, innocent until proven guilty?

this is what the book explores, but inevitably is unable to really answer that question. it just makes me want to rip my hair out.

[Melinda Nankivell · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s difficult to rate and review a non fiction book that’s about such a difficult topic. I will say though that Louise Milligan’s book about how witnesses are cross-examined, particularly regarding sexual assault crimes, absolutely had to be written. It is well researched and written with respect and dignity. A very tough book to read, particularly as I watched the Jimmy Saville documentary at the same time, and the parts about grooming entire communities was being demonstrated to me using both mediums. Honestly we humans are just utterly appalling to each other sometimes, and retraumatising victims for the sake of the defendant just made me feel ill.

[Lonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Devastating is the only word to describe what the author explains happens to witnesses, particularly vulnerable and traumatised victims of sexual abuse, when having to give evidence and be cross examined by the defendants lawyer.
This book was hard to read as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse myself, but does a great job of explaining as to why many people, including myself, prefer not to seek justice and instead try to deal with the trauma without the perpetrator/s being held to account.
The secondary trauma some of the survivor’s cases the author details are very disturbing and appear to have had an adverse affect on them rather than bringing them any kind of peace or justice.
Very interesting but deeply upsetting book.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such an important book - horrifying, upsetting, difficult, inspiring and hopeful all at once. The victims who speak up in this book are incredible and courageous. It should absolutely, without a doubt, be compulsory reading for law students, particularly any considering going into criminal law. While reading I moved between reconsidering being a lawyer and being reminded why it’s so important that people, with empathy and kindness, do become lawyers. Reform is needed.

[Nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me want to bang my head against a wall. Equally difficult to read as it is addictive. A must read for everyone.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

2021 Stella Prize - Longlist

This is the book I was hoping would win this year's Stella Prize.
The content is important for all Australians. Violence and Sexual Assault mainly against women and children are endemic and I'd challenge any Australian to think of the people they know who have been victims and survived and who may have had to fronted up to court to tell of something that could well be the worst experience of their lives. Statistics show that many don't, because to recount it is too painful an experience, especially when you combine it with the aggressive cross-examination that happens in our adversarial legal system where Witnesses to their own suffering are often mistreated again and feel unsupported through the legal process. True Justice often seems to be far too rare a thing in our criminal courts.
Louise Milligan as a 4 Corners Journalist has investigated a number of high profile cases. At least 3 of those cases are included in this book, including her own cross-examination as part of the R v George Pell legal action.
I haven't read her previous book on Pell because I think what he is responsible for is so vomit inducing, but this second book including just this section of the criminal proceeding really made me feel that justice definitely was not served. There is so much more here than was covered in the reports that made it to air in News reports.
I think this may well be my highest recommended book of the year. Every Australian really should read it. It is just so revealing, especially if there is a chance that you or someone you love might end up as a Witness before a court.

[Jillwilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

At lunch a few weeks ago, a friend told me that a relation of hers had been recently sexually assaulted. She was worried about her and wanted to support her through the process of police investigation and potentially the court system. I thought of saying “Get her a lawyer” – which seems wrong – for a victim. But I’d just read this book and it has really stayed with me. The book opens with the horrific and harrowing account from Saxon Mullins. You can read more of her story here - https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-0... (or in Milligan’s book).

“And so she tells it to us straight: there’s the young woman, raped in her bed by a trespassing stranger, who is relentlessly questioned about the ‘skimpiness’ of the underwear she chose to wear under her own bed covers; the schoolboy, groomed by his athletics coach – months of ratcheting sexual messages – who is chastised for ruining a good man’s reputation; and the remarkable Saxon Mullins, who relinquished her legal anonymity to fight for sexual consent law reform. ‘My experience of the criminal justice system from the view of the survivor was so awful,’ Saxon explains. ‘People have asked me if I’d recommend going to trial or not, and I don’t know the answer. I have no idea of the answer. Because it’s such a horrible event.’” (https://issuu.com/australianbookrevie...)

While these experiences of these victims are explored through the book, it is the personal experiences of Milligan herself which shape the narrative and add a level of personal engagement beyond those that normally infuse a journalist’s writing. Milligan herself had to give evidence at the trial of George Pell. It’s really interesting reading how the cross-examination impacted on her. She is a seasoned journalist, she was well-prepared and had considerable legal and organisational support – and yet it’s a very tough experience on the stand. Milligan really grapples with the legal concept of the right of the accused to be seen as innocent until found guilty, the protections afforded by this – and by the notion of “beyond reasonable doubt”. These are concepts that I think we would all support – but in cases where there are only two people in the room – the ‘he said, she said” type of cases, it is very difficult to provide for the rights of the alleged victim as well as the alleged perpetrator.

The statistics around sexual assaults are alarming: “In the decade to 2018, 52,396 sexual assaults were reported to the New South Wales Police Force. Charges were laid in 12,894 cases, and 7629 cases proceeded to court. Just 7 per cent of initial reports – 3827 cases – ultimately saw a guilty verdict. Given many incidents are never reported to police in the first place, this means that for every 100 sexual offences committed in this country, barely a handful of perpetrators will ever be sanctioned for their crime.” (https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/n...)

Milligan focuses on the role and tack taken by many barristers – who operate in a very patriarchal culture – and who take no prisoners in the process of cross-examination. She talks about how “the adversarial system of cross-examination – with its indignities and seething manipulations, its brow-beating and haranguing – visits new traumas upon the multiply abused. Yes, multiply: first by their abuser; then by their trial; and finally by the aftermath of the process – perhaps the abuse whose pain lingers longest.” (https://www.smh.com.au/culture/books/...) She wants to get one important thing across in her book and to lawyers reading this interview: “The profession really needs to take some responsibility for how it is treating these people.”

And, as this reviewer noted: “Notable also is Witness' concern for the toll exacted on barristers and legal professionals in these trials. Milligan's investigations and interviews see barristers driven from their families, disassociating from their work and themselves - something like a professional culture of Stockholm Syndrome. No one, it seems, escapes the courtroom unscathed. "When it comes to talking about victims, I've often found barristers switch off. They go silent. There's a feeling that they don't want to know, but they don't want to show that they don't want to know. They listen patiently, then they change the subject," she writes. (https://www.canberratimes.com.au/stor...)

It's a powerful and evocative book. After listening to my friend talking about her young relative, I said “Read this book”. I had mixed feelings about passing on the recommendation – I’m sure it will alarm and unsettle her – but better to be prepared for what is ahead than not.

[Andrew Whalan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Witness

Why court cross examination is a modern version of the medieval trial by ordeal and why victims are reluctant to go to court and perhaps what can be done to help.

[Cassie Renais · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a horribly depressing book that made me incredibly angry - but that just means that Milligan wrote it well and got her point across: the Australian criminal justice system is not designed for complainants or witnesses and treats them like trash throughout the justice-seeking process. She calls the system broken, which is entirely defensible depending on what you think the point of the criminal justice system is. This book makes it abundantly clear that is not justice for the complainant. The CJS is a dogfight between the state and the defendant and witnesses (and complainants, without whom the proceedings wouldn't exist) get chewed up and spat out.

It's enraging to hear the way defence lawyers berate, belittle, deride and bully witnesses in service of defendants and the way witnesses/complainants just have to sit there and take it with no one to advocate for them, and frequently with no understanding that that's what they 'signed up for'. How distressing that the takeaway from victims who have been through the courts is "never again", that they're treated like "liars" and "villains", and that they would never recommend anyone else bother. If the system doesn't care about victims and their justice, then surely it should at least care about removing offenders from society and rehabilitating them - a process that wouldn't be possible without the dutiful reporting of complainants. Surely a little dignity and respect is not too high a price to pay the person contributing to society by fulfilling that duty?

Milligan writes well, as you would expect of an expert investigative journalist, though I did wade through a few passages of distracting purple prose. The devil is in the details, and Milligan includes them all. As an expose, this book is a triumph. Milligan humanises the whole process, refusing to let people hide behind vague concepts like the right to a fair trial, or innocent until proving guilty, or the most common one of "just doing a job". She makes it clear that the people within the CJS need to take responsibility for their own actions and not shrug the blame off onto the system or the job - they are complicit in the process of retraumatising victims whether they like it or not.

Overall, it was not pleasant to educate myself on the trials of being a witness in a criminal trial, especially since the cases Milligan talks about were mainly sex crimes and crimes against children. It's sobering to realise that the idea of "seeking justice through the courts" for victims and survivors is often more traumatic than their original assault; no wonder so few matters ever get there in the first place when the smart option is to steer clear.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A crushing but important read for all members of the Australian legal community - and the broader public - that investigates hard truths about the treatment of victims and witnesses with intelligence, sensitivity and fearlessness.

[Alicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. This is my new favourite non-fic book of all time. If I could give it more than 5 stars, I would! Definitely one for everyone to read, not just those with a legal background. I personally found the content quite distressing at times so I’d be cautious of potentially triggering topics before venturing into this one (CWs below).

WITNESS is a striking examination of the power imbalance in our justice system. It reveals the devastating impacts of an adversarial legal process which treats complainants with a hostility that causes a separate and distinct trauma of its own.

By way of background, Louise Milligan is an Australian investigative journalist who has reported on several high-profile court cases - most recently the prosecution (and subsequent acquittal) of Cardinal George Pell. Milligan was cross-examined in Pell’s trial as the witness for the first complainant. Milligan constructs WITNESS from her experience as a witness in the R v Pell trial, candid interviews with defence counsel, prosecutors and various complainants to sexual crimes. The breadth of her research and range of evidence sources adds so much nuance and depth to this exposé.

At its crux, WITNESS is a call to reform. Milligan insists on a minimum acceptable professional standard from those involved in the process. She highlights the inequities in the way complainants are treated: a system which allows defence barristers to deploy psychological tactics like calling young girls “madam” so as to not highlight their youth, or disallows comfort toys to children in case the image of it prejudices the jury.

Milligan is a phenomenal investigative journalist and has definitely become one of my “intellectual crushes” after doing a bit of a deep dive into her work after finishing this book. I will definitely be getting my hands on a copy of ‘Cardinal’, which broke massive international news before the Pell trial.

Honestly a must read if investigative journalism is your jam.

CWs: rape, suicide, child sexual abuse, clergy abuse, suicidal ideation.

[gifted copy courtesy of the publisher]

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a tough read. Tough because our court system needs reform and Milligan clearly and thoroughly explains why. Even harder to read are Milligan's unflinchingly descriptions of what it is costing us* to let the system continue to further damage those who are the complainant witnesses to sexual assault crimes.

This book introduces us to some of those doing the most damage - the defence barristers who will do whatever it takes to get their client the outcome they are paying for; the judges who aren't in control of their courtroom or will not enforce the provisions of the Evidence Act to provide a safe courtroom in which the witnesses give their evidence; the various state organisations that have yet to implement findings and recommendations of Inquiries and Royal Commissions.

But it is a well written and thoroughly researched book - Milligan has talked at length and in depth, both on and off the record with all of the people that contribute to our legal system and she's asked them all the questions as she tries to understand why our courts still have a heartbreakingly low conviction rate for sexual assault cases and why so many of the complainants who put themselves through the system describe the experience of being a witness as "worse than the assault itself".

* who are the "we" here? We, a civil society in many respects, have a flawed court system that is further injuring survivors of sexual assault. Milligan and her many interview subjects offer us an uncomfortable, at best, heart-breaking for many, conversation. A system that enables the bullies to thrive is one that demeans us all.

[Sabrina Rodrigues · Rating 5 out of 5]

Utterly brilliant

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been avoiding picking this book up only because I didn’t feel strong enough. I’m so glad I finally did. It looks into cases which I knew there outlines of but hadn’t really considered in the court room context. Saxon Mullins, st Kevin’s and Pell. Some of the content is hard but it was written in a way that made it compelling and accessible.

[ellen · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5

Full review published by Sydney Review of Books: https://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/revie...

[Alana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Witness is a razor sharp commentary on the way that the justice system enables defence counsel to completely decimate victims of sexual assault, particularly when they appear as witnesses to the prosecution's case. It is unimaginable how horrendous it must be to live out the most traumatic experience of your life in front of a judge, jury, your perpetrator, their supporters, and a defence barrister absolutely committed to discrediting you in any way possible.

Louise Milligan is an investigative journalist for the ABC and Four Corners. She outlines that in Australian law, if you are a victim of a crime, you attend court as a witness, not as a party who has been wronged. The prosecution represents the laws and interests of the State, and the defence represents the interests of the alleged perpetrator. But you, as the person to whom harm and trauma was physically and irreversibly done, attends court alone, sits in the box alone, and is stripped of your reputation, credibility and victimhood, alone. It is no wonder that victims battle with themselves about whether to come forward, and ultimately do not.

While Witness centres around her experience as a witness of first complaint in the case against George Pell, Milligan's book uncovers the devastating experiences of Saxon Mullins and Paris Street, victims not only of sexual assault and grooming respectively, but of a system designed to uphold "innocence" of sexual offenders, while crushing the complainant in the process. Their stories are told with such empathy and compassion, highlighting that abuse is not rectified with a court case, or even a successful conviction. They are heart-breaking and deserving of their own platforms in their own right.

It is Milligan's experience as a witness of first complaint, where she was cross-examined by Robert Richter QC, George Pell's defence lawyer, that is truly remarkable. Milligan was a well prepared, privileged, educated and somewhat expecting witness in court, but all the preparation in the world could not prepare for the trickery and profoundly tyrannical approach taken by defence counsel against her. The court transcripts published in this book are truly unbelievable.

This book is cutting and at times really difficult to read. But I would recommend that everyone, particularly those in the legal profession, read it.

Thank you to Hachette Aus for my gifted advanced reader's copy.

[Luke Illeniram · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful. Confronting. Inconceivable. Heart-wrenching. Incensing. If there is one positive about the latest lockdown, it was that I was able to motor through this book in a day and a half. Louise Milligan is one of my greatest heroes, and reading this book was one of the most powerful literary experiences I have ever had. I am sure my smart-watch thinks I was on a brisk walk for the hours I was reading this book, my heart rate steadily rising as my sense of injustice and anger rose. In the midst of my teaching degree, and selected electives on child-safety, the devastating systems in place to protect abusers are baffling. Not just in the 70s, 80s etc, but through to the modern day.

There was a teacher at my first school, an Edmund Rice school, just like St Kevins, though markedly lower socioeconomically, who I found out last year was named in the Royal Commission as an alleged abuser from decades before. I felt my eyes well up at the time, and the sick feeling inside me. This was a teacher I found extremely uncomfortable to be around or near, a teacher that had the entire student body on edge, with the only levity coming when students broke the tension by whispering about how creepy he was. I remember him demonstrating in a PE class where one of his 'favourite' students should be feeling a stretch - a hamstring stretch. I remember his handing touching the back of the Year 7 boys leg, and thinking at the time that it was strange. In imagining my unclear recollections of this moment, and seeing how Richter and the other defense lawyers treat the complainants and witnesses, it is gut-wrenching to imagine the distress one would go through with having their entire memory, and integrity questioned, and twisted.

I could ramble all day, but the complicity, and the 'boys club' mentality that prevails in institutions even now is sickening, and I personally will never associate myself with these organisations in my teaching career, nor allow my future children anywhere near them.

[Fauzia Shereen-Saggar · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent yet an intense read by Louise Milligan who thoroughly touches on the effects of the criminal justice system and the unfairness it brings to complainants. Milligan highlights the injustices sexual assault victims face as well as the the lack of legal advocacy and representation they have when bringing their stories forward. Milligan questions what 'innocent until proven guilty' really is and shares striking examples of poor communication by lawyers towards victims that failed to demonstrate empathy.

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most important and timely books I have read this year. Exceptionally well written. Courageous journalism that should be widely read and put into the hands of EVERY lawyer and politician, in particular, in this country. The most deserved 5 stars.

[Merceiam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite harrowing at times to learn about the appalling treatment of victims of crime within the courtroom. Insightful but perhaps overly long and detailed for an “outsider” like me, who would have preferred a shorter synopsis.

[Lara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. An incredible piece on how complainants of sexual offences are treated as witnesses in legal proceedings, not victims.
As I enter my final year of my LLB, very burnt-out, this prompted a much-needed reigniting of my passion for the law and the people interacting with the legal system.

[Elizabeth Kefaloukos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely well-researched, confronting and inspiring. This book is a journalistic fist- raised above a cacophony of political opinion, in protest, at the prevalent and problematic maltreatment of witnesses within the Australian justice system.

[brooke erickson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such an important and powerful book. I don’t care who you are, everyone needs to read this.

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fantastic read. Anyone looking to study law or criminal justice should read this. Only taking 1 star off because I felt as though towards the end of the book it got a bit repetitive.