Interesting. Extracts:
Nobody would have a “shred” of sympathy for a teacher [J4MB: Rebecca Joynes, 30] accused of having sex with two teenage pupils if she was a man, a jury has been told…
Joe Allman, prosecuting, said if Ms Joynes, 30, had been “Robert” Joynes and the complainants had been girls, it would not have been suggested to them they were “up for it” or the ones wanting sex, “because that would have been quite obscene”…
In his closing statements at Manchester Crown Court, Mr Allman said Ms Joynes was making a “naked attempt” for sympathy by having a pink bonnet – from the baby fathered by one of the underage boys she is accused of having sex with – tucked visibly into her trousers during the trial.
He asked the jury: “Is what is going on here, is: she hopes you will treat her very differently because she is a woman and not a man, and you will see this case differently because she’s a woman and not a man?” [J4MB: If only he could have omitted “Is what is going on here, is”, to remove any doubt on the matter.]
He suggested Ms Joynes would like jurors to forget she is a responsible, mature adult teacher and the boys were teenage children and school pupils.
“It has the effect of warping the picture, so she almost becomes the victim and the boys the perpetrators.”
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