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Witness

By: Louise Milligan
Narrated by: Louise Milligan
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From the best-selling author of Cardinal comes a searing examination of the power imbalance in our legal system - where exposing the truth is never guaranteed and, for victims, justice is often elusive.

A masterful and deeply troubling expose, Witness is the culmination of five years' research for award-winning investigative journalist Louise Milligan.
Throughout her career charting the experiences of people who have the courage to come forward to police and then look to find justice in court, Milligan has watched how witnesses are treated (or, too frequently, mistreated) in the courtroom. They have described to her how they relive the associated trauma, often years later. Then, she saw this first-hand when she became a witness and was cross-examined herself in the trial of the decade, R v George Pell.
Never-before-published court transcripts expose widespread systemic flaws. And through a combination of extraordinarily candid interviews with defence counsel, prosecutors and even judges, and the heartbreaking stories of witnesses in a number of high-profile cases, the brutal reality of the system is laid bare.
Revealing the devastating effects of an adversarial legal system that can be sexist, callous and too often weighted towards the rich and powerful, Milligan also highlights its failure to protect the wellbeing of the most vulnerable. In detailing these flaws and the ongoing human cost, Witness is a compelling call for change.

'Witness is an impressive, gut-wrenching interrogation of the justice system.' THE SATURDAY PAPER

'Witness is a triumph of intellect and empathy.' THE CONVERSATION©2020 Louise Milligan (P)2023 W. F. Howes Ltd Law Sociology True Crime Scary Inspiring
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All stars
Most relevant
Highly emotional. Heatbreaking . Exceptionally well written. The least I could do was listen this audio book. Very well narrated. We owe it to the victims to hear their stories and ensure this never happens again

Extraordinary

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Milligan has really shone a light on the failings of our legal system and has done so with care, depth and balanced sensitivity. I greatly admire her respect for victims of crime and her preparedness to always put their perspective forward. The analysis of the damage done by letters of support and character references for criminals was especially insightful and should be included as required reading for all judges and anyone considering providing such a document. She lapsed a little bit into self indulgence with the sheer amount of space taken up on analysing her own experience when giving testimony but her sections on the experiences of two victims, Saxon and Paris, were nothing short of riveting.

Thought provoking and infuriating

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This is an incredible piece of work. It is heavy, enraging, and captivating. Incredibly informative and also very personal. Milligan’s narration is fantastic and adds even more to the content.
Milligan shares stories of victims who have been devastated by the experience of being a witness, raises many questions about the process, and explores possibilities of doing things differently to maintain dignity of witnesses whilst upholding the presumption of innocence for the accused.
The stories explored are very interesting, at many points heartbreaking, and I was absolutely gobsmacked to learn of many things that are allowed to happen to witnesses.
Throughout the book you can sense Milligan’s tenacity and determination to give a voice to tyrannised victims.

Wow!

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Harrowing stories of the brutality of the legal system in Australia from the witnesses point of voice. Brilliantly told by investigative journalist Louise Milligan.

A must read/listen

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well written, well narrated and extremely insightful. Every criminal lawyer should read this book

An important book for all criminal lawyers to read

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