Friday, 18th July 2008

Careful what you say online

George Casha, Swieqi

Apparently some lawyers will go to all lengths in order to defend their clients. On occasion they even attempt to discredit victims in order to defend the alleged aggressor.

In these modern communication times many people use websites such as Hi5, Facebook, Blogs, etc. in order to communicate with other people, exchange friendship, ideas and views, to name but a few options. Most of the time the info listed is humorous, untrue or to be taken with a pinch of salt.

However, one can never imagine that info listed on a website could one day be used by some lawyers as a tool for some shameful character assassination against a victim.

In a recent case, a victim of an attempted murder had a personal page on a particular website where he described himself in a certain way. In court, the defence lawyer seemed to imply that, since one writes such things about oneself on a website, then the person should not be taken seriously even under oath.

May I humbly ask then what is the normal procedure for a witness to be believed when testifying in court? What sort of oath can one take if, for example, this person is Roman Catholic but not a regular churchgoer? Should his/her evidence be thrown out of court straight away? What would be the requirements to take an oath if one has a different religion or, for example, one believes in just the Pyramids of Giza?

Should one bring along a miniature statue of Tutankhamun and take an oath on that or would our courts make other arrangements?

May I give any future victims some advice? If you publish personal info on any website please make sure you describe yourself as a full Roman Catholic, a regular churchgoer and declare that the only band you listen to are the local church choir boys.

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Article © Allied Newspapers Ltd., printed on Saturday, November 21, 2009. This article is for personal use only, and should not be distributed.

Comments

ian vella (on 21/7/08)

Dear Mr Casha, I totally agree with your article, people often tend to lie about thier character on line, but i still believe that a picture says a thousand words. There are people who describe themselves as gods gift to woman and vice versa but they also remain anonymous and faceless, then there are people who tend to bluff and describe themselves as cool, thier only problem is that they publish photos on the web to confirm what they have written.

Odette Longo (on 21/7/08)

I have to agree with Mr. Casha.
People say all kinds of drivvel on line. Some middle-aged go back in time and are suddenly young, virile, 18-yr-olds.... :-) Fat people, become magically slim/muscular. Nerds become "cool"... the list of virtual reality personas goes on.

Philip Briffa (on 20/7/08)

Is there a problem in admitting your beliefs??? If one is a Roman Catholic he wouldn't say he is of no religion isn't it?!?! It's either black or white not grey! Do you think it is so shameful to admit that you are a Roman Catholic? And yes I agree be careul what you say online!!