Stewart Case updates - no speculation please

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Flip link said:
Hes in the process of finding a ladder to reach the button.

Is that speculation there Flip? :p
 
Don't know if this is that relevant but I'll add this.

I've known Brett and Glenn reasonably well since about 2004. Later that year I organized a touch footy game with them at brookie through this site and mse. About 50 fans turned up and it was an awesome day. They played touch footy with us for over an hour and hung around for a BBQ a chat with the fans. I know it was a day I won't forget and I'm sure for the many other fans that  attended as well.

The Stewart boys are a class act and fine blokes. Hopefully the correct result prevails.
 
I can't imagine why Dessie would smite me.
And to add byso, the whole Stewart clan seem really close.  This has been a very stressful time for them, and all of them have been at court throughout.  They are very appreciative of the fan support.  I feel very proud to be a Manly supporter given all the support that the club have provided throughout.  To see the players and ex-players, support staff, managers, and coaches here, says it all. 
 
Something to add to the testimony of the club staffer who commented on Brett's response to letters from fans etc. 

Just before the '08 GF my two boys made a card and wrote to their favourite player.  My eldest wrote to Brett, my middle to Beaver.  About two months after the GF my elder received a hand written response from Bullet thanking him and commenting specifically on what he'd written.  My elder had told him to score a try over the top of Billy Slater (and drawn a picture to illustrate it).  Bullet had this to say - "sorry I didn't score a try for you but I think you liked the result anyway?"

So the staffer was spot on with what she had to say about Brett's response to fans.  My middle didn't get any response - I'm giving Beaver the benefit of the doubt seeing as he'd played his last game.
 
Just received a phone Call fro DSM he informed me

Bellento has finished his summation and finished with

"It is now time to lift the veil of suspicion and let the light shine in on this gifted and decent gentleman" (I have gotten the first part wrong, my doctors handwriting sorry)

The judge has adjourned for 20 minutes, after which he will instruct the jury on various points of law and ask them to retire to the Jury room.

DSM expects we should hear a verdict this afternoon, possibly before, or maybe after lunch
 
In attendance, Choc, Kingy, Des, Wayne Springall (for all you oldies) MATT ORFORD, Glenn, Robbo, and Wheel.

Here we go, Tuesday morning
The Crown raised a point about this mornings 'Telegraph' coverage of one comment he says he didn't make.  He whinged on for twenty minutes or so.  The judges noted it and the journo apologised, apparently.

Anyway Bellanto continued;
He recapped yesterday's comments re the character of Brett, his actions, the circumstances at the scene at the time, intoxication, absence of DNA, the reliability of the complainant, gross exaggeration by the dad, factual issues and then went onto the 'red' mark.
He went into Dr Norrie's background, her expertise, qualifications and experience.  He noted that Norrie had said that there were various explanations for the mark.  He noted that Norrie had said that the mark was more likely to be self inflicted.
Bellanto spent a lot of time on this topic as it seems it's a big part of the Crown's case.  Bellanto then said that because a witness says something a number of times, it doesn't make it true.
Bellanto then went into the compainant's evidence;  He said that it just doesn't make sense.  Bellanto said it was 'totally unlikely', and just not true'.  He took the jury through her inconsistencies in her evidence, statements to others involved, the cops, the doctor and the dad.  Bellanto told the jury of the girl's demeanour, her smiling, being calm, talkative.  He noted the discrepencies of the cops on the scene, on how their statements were written, not at the scene but days and weeks later.  Bellanto said that she hadn't taken her medication all day, that she was due to take it that evening, she suffered mood swings.  He went into her difficulties of self medication, her hospitalization and dealing with this psychosis.
He said, "clearly the jury should see the shaky foundations, the flaws in the glass, of this complainant".
He said she is basically and totally unreliable.
He then went through the psychiatrist's evidence of his dealing with the complainant.  relapses, symptoms, med history, problems with self medication, hospitalization.

he finished by saying that it was time to return a 'not guilty' verdict.
He said, "it was not time to lift the veil - let the light shine in on this gifted and decent gentleman".  11.20am

Judge sums up.
He outlined the charges, Reinforced theat it was the Crown's responsibility to prove each allegation beyond a reasonable doubt.  He said that the jury should not be swayed by stereotypes in the media re football players and other sportsmen.  That the jury should look at the evidence and view the witness as whether they are reliable, credible, consistent and accurate.
He went over the reasonable doubt thing again.  
*******And the verdict needs to be unanimous********.
That the Crown must prove each element of the case.  If the Crown has not, then a not guilty verdict must be returned.  He went into the legalese of each charge, and clarified what 'beyond reasonable doubt' meant.
He then gave a chronological  order of the complaint.  He said that Brett didn't have to give evidence, in fact he said that Brett didn't have to say anything all the way through.  He said that 'character was not disputed by the Crown.  He said that character can determine;
1  Is it likely that a person such as Brett would do the deed.
2  Take into account whether Brett's evidence is believable based on the evidence of his character by the character witnesses.

The judge said that the jury should look at the complainants evidence with 'great care'.  Don't accept iit if you don't think she's credible and reliable".   He said the lack of DNA was no 'silver bullet' and that the red mark on the vagina was proof of a red mark.  That's all it proves.  As to the cause, well that's in conflict, he said.  The Judge then reiterated about the 'reasonable doubt' thing.  
 
The Jury has retired to the Jury room at 3:19PM

Court closes generally at 4PM, if there is a verdict before then, DSM5 will send me an SMS and we will break it here.
 
No verdict tonight. The Jury was sent home around 4PM and will continue their deliberations tomorrow.

For the sake of the site staying up and us being able to bring the news to you immediately, rather than refresh this page or the site constantly, please instead monitor Twitter and Facebook.

I will also setup another remote URL tonight to allow you to refresh and will only show the verdict.

Thank you for understanding and helping us out.

DSM5 will update this post in about 30 minutes with information regarding this afternoons session
 
Rees Hanbry was in court today.  He played for the Tigers and is off to ESL.  A good mate of Brett's.
OK.
The Judge continued his summing up.  Her clarified the definition of sexual intercourse, Brett's third charge, and then he went into reminding the jury that the complainant's evidence 'may' be unreliable, and that 'additional caution' should be exercised.  If she is not to be believed on one charge, then you can extrapolate into viewing her evidence as suspect towards the other charges.
He went into the usage of 'bro' and that the only people who heard Brett say those words were the complainant's family.
He went into the 'red'mark again.  Jesus!  The Judge spoke of Brett's behaviour on the night and the girl's conflicting statements.  Again.

I looked at the jury at 2.30 and they were flagging.  It's hot and stuffy in this courtroom.  I'm sick and tired of listening to this stuff over and over.  The repititious nature of this trial is incredible.
Anyway,  after the Judge had finished his summing up and the jury left Bellanto objected to some of his directions, notably;
the Judges downgrading of the DNA evidence,
the linking of the complainant and Brett as persons suffering,
the intoxication comments,
and the fact that the Judge commented on about the possibility of Brett washing his hands at Dee Why Police Station.
The Judge seemed to take on board what Bellanto said, and spoke again to the jury after they returned, reminding them that the lack of DNA was important to consider, and that there was none of his on her, and none of hers on him, and that the Police had said that in their evidence Brett didn't wash his hands, he read out the Custody Sergeant's evidence,and in regard to 'intoxication', that Brett carried on sensible conversations with the cops at the unit on the night in question.  Hardly the state of a guy intoxicated.
The jury retired to consider thieir verdict at 3.19pm.

At 3.40 we all scurried back into the court, only to be informed that the jury wanted a question resolved and to ask if they could come back tomorrow. 
Very hard for the Stewart's now.  I really feel for them.

Court resumes at 10 tomorrow.   
 
Great work thanks DSM, I am sure everyone here is very thankful and we will all have to think of a way to thank you better
 
The Verdict will be posted http://www.silvertails.net/verdict.html first, please monitor this location as well as Facebook and twitter rather than the forums
 
Wednesday morning.
Obviously you all know by now that the jury returned a verdict of not guilty on all counts. 

The jury reentered the courtroom at 10.25am and was asked the questions regarding each count.  For each question, the answer was 'not guilty'.  The court erupted in clapping and cheering.  Brett broke down and sobbed at the conclusion of the jury's findings.
The jury then was dismissed and the judge told Brett he was free to go.  The media scuttled out, and I remained to see the emotional scenes as Brett went from supporter to supporter, hugging and shaking hands.  He hugged Bellanto.  His parents came up to me and thanked the site for carrying unbiased and fair comment on the trial.  They were very appreciative of the fan support.  It was very emotional.

Now, on what transpired to be the last day of this farcical trial, one must ask just who is responsible for this waste of public and private money, and who is responsible for putting this fine family through this horror?  Is it the DPP, the ambitious young detective from Dee Why or his angry old superiors who thought they were out to nail some 'hapless' footballer.
This nonsense should have been stopped along the way, before it snowballed into what it became, a tragedy.  And the real 'victims' in this are the Stewart family.  They are the ones who have to put up the hundreds of thousands of dollars to clear Brett's name, and they are the ones who have expended the emotional fortune that is unquantifiable. 

The effect on the family must have been horrific.  They have shown throughout this ordeal dignity, pride in their sons, a family loyalty and a devotion to setting the public record right.  Commendable and I felt it an honor to have met them.

This young man was innocent from the get go.  NO question.  These charges should have been thrown in the garbage at the outset.  It took two weeks of trial and months of torment for this family to get things right.  This trial was an utter disgrace and all who prosecuted it should be ashamed of themselves.

And what of Gallop?  His prejudicial actions in 09 should be condemned by all decent people.  He should be held accountable for his heavy handed, unfair aand foolish actions towards Brett and the club.  he puts himself forward as some future leader of Rugby League.  That stance is a complete joke.  Fans of the greatest game should, no must contact their clubs and demand that they no longer support this fool into any position associated with the great game.
DSM5     
 
Since we have so much current discussion about this. I thought I would bump it. Apologise for the weird characters, it comes from the UTF charset changes between different site versions.

This is probably the best thread on the site, and shows exactly what it meant to be a fan at that time. We all felt so close to the players and the team and it was obvious they were a tight-knit unit, that kind of mateship is what made them such a strong playing group!

Well done DSM5 on one of the best reporting efforts by a fan, or anyone!
 
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