The Cheese Grater Spring 2014 3
Chalk, Lies & Suspicious Police Activity Special Report From Senate House Chalking Trial Hannah Sketchley & Bo Franklin The trial of the activist arrested in ULU in July 2013 concluded this week. Former Birkbeck student Konstancja Duff, 25, was charged with one count of criminal damage and two counts of assaulting an officer. See CGOnline for further details of her arrest.
became apparent that she was not Morrissey; however, having identified her as the woman in the CCTV footage they proceeded with her arrest. Morrissey in fact works at UoL’s International School. She is also an organiser within the IWGB, the union which represents the outsourced workers employed by the university.
Chalked-up Charges
It’s all kicking off
The first charge Ms Duff faced was one count of criminal damage, for chalking the 3Cosas slogan “Sick Pay, Holiday, Pensions Now!” on the foundation stone of Senate House.
Duff was accused of assaulting Special Constable Liam Souter as he attempted to move her into a position where he could handcuff her. She had been frank to the court about her decision to non-violently resist an arrest she felt was unjust. The prosecutor, Dilichi Onuzo, claimed that Duff had kicked Souter in the cheek as he bent down, the force of the assault evident from his helmet falling off. Souter himself said that he felt ‘an immediate degree of numbness’.
She asserted that she had chosen the stone because of its central position on the wall, and she “thought it would look nice.” The prosecution fixated on aesthetic issues of crime, questioning whether her choice of colours really fitted her defence of chalking to advertise the demonstration. They suggested that her intention was to damage the foundation stone, damage which cost £810 to put right, rather than to raise awareness. Duff detailed how she was approached by a member of University of London (UoL) staff and asked to stop, at which point she finished the word she was writing. Later, she was approached by a group including security supervisor Agata Torres and Deputy Director of Property Paul Nicholson-Lewis. They told her the police had been called, but Duff did not believe them at the time.
Chalk one up for University management Nicholson-Lewis revealed that he had indeed called the police on the advice of senior management. After studying stills from CCTV footage, they gave the police the name Catherine Morrissey, and requested her prosecution. After two officers spoke to Ms Duff, it
Defence barrister Ben Newton suggested instead that Duff had not brought her knee up, but that Souter had put himself in the painful position. Video evidence showed Duff limp on the floor saying ‘that fucking hurts’ as two officers struggled to move her outside. When asked what the crowd around him were doing, Souter claimed that the crowd around Duff, evident on the video, did help her but made no ‘serious attempts to resist’. They did however bring her ‘a sandwich and a raspberry yoghurt,’ although The Cheese Grater suggests this won’t affect any final sentence.
Get in the back of the van! The second count of assault concerned the attempt to lift Duff into the police van. PC Paula O’Grady told the court that Duff shouted ‘get off my legs’ and kicked O’Grady in the leg, causing her to fall against the van. Once again, however, video evidence appeared to contest this. Special Constable Souter is seen to place
his hand seemingly up Duff ’s skirt, and O’Grady then moves back. At no point did the evidence show O’Grady falling against the van door, as she insisted happened, and Newton suggested that the kick wasn’t nearly hard enough to cause a fall, and that the evidence showed O’Grady ‘doubling over’ at most. Despite this, O’Grady maintained that it represented an assault, and claimed to be shocked as she was only trying to ‘help [Duff ] with her dignity’.
Dust off the evidence A young Special Constable, SC Inwood, was rolled out to corroborate both assaults, as the only police officer who felt able to do so. However, he was unable to stand up to Newton’s questioning. After being given several chances to admit that he had not witnessed Duff kick O’Grady in the legs, he remained adamant that he had. The court was then privy to video evidence showing that his line of sight was blocked by a van door. He responded nervously: “I thought I saw it.”
Not by a long chalk SC Inwood’s testimony was branded “of poor quality” and “close to perjury” by Newton as he closed the case. He praised Duff as a “woman of education,” and reminded the judge of her attempts at non-violent conduct throughout. Onuzo closed her case for prosecution by reminding the judge of her key line of argument: had Duff not attempted nonviolent resistance but walked to the van, she would not have had cause to wriggle around. She reiterated that just because Duff felt her arrest to be unjust, it did not mean it was. Judge Nina Tempia will deliver her verdict on February 25th. Check The Cheese Grater’s website and Twitter for updates.