由此
- 7 A
A
evidence, and that she was relating to incidents that had taken place years
B
B
ago—when she gave evidence before the judge in September 2010.
C
D
C
21.
The judge had the benefit of observing Miss X giving
evidence before him for a number of days and he found her “to be a most
E
F
impressive witness who gave compelling evidence of these distressing
events which form the subject matter of [the] five charges”; and, despite
D
E
F
the lapse of time, he found Miss X “was able to give a detailed description
G
H
G
as to what by any account must have been extremely unpleasant and
embarrassing for her”. The trial judge found Miss X “to be entirely
H
truthful and reject out of hand the suggestion that she has fabricated the
I
events she testified to and deliberately lied to [the] court” (AB 20—
I
J
para. 16 of the Reasons for Verdict).
J
K
L
22.
We have had the benefit of reading the full transcript of the
trial. Miss X’s evidence of what had happened to her is not inherently
K
L
improbable. One must bear in mind Miss X was a 12-year-old when she
M
N
came across the applicant on the internet. Her evidence was that she “just
want to get someone to chat with on the internet and [she] never intended
M
N
to meet [that person]”; she told the applicant “roughly where [she] lived,
O
P
but [she] never thought he would come to look for [her].
At that time
[she] thought that when making friends, there was no need to lie to that
O
P
person.” (AB 91, Line O to T).
Q
R
Q
23.
Miss X’s naivety and guilelessness could also be gleaned
from her evidence in relation the applicant’s query about her father.
S
T
R
She
said that she had told the applicant that her father was a doctor. She then
said, “he even asked me whether my father was in medicine or surgery, but
S
T
U
U
V
V
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