“Having the diagnosis of dementia, can you be a police witness?”

Hiya it’s steven Clifford.

Having a diagnosis of dementia, can you be a police witness? Well of course the answer is yes, but consider what I have to say because of what happened back to me in 1963. It’s weird isn’t it I struggle to remember what I had for breakfast this morning, but I can remember what happened back in ’63.

In 1963 I had the opportunity to sit in and listen to court cases in a crown court and I did this nearly every day for over 3 months. I was told to sit at the back of the courts and listen and learn. Listen to the devious and clever ways some defence barristers would twist and sometimes bully witnesses. How they would manipulate their words and evidence, sometimes even threaten elderly and vulnerable people using any despicable method they could devise. And if the witness had any disability they would use that to their advantage, ensuring the jury would almost certainly think that the disability would impair their ability to give a truthful account of what they had witnessed. And if the witness had any memory issues, well, that was like manor from heaven because barristers have no scruples what-so-ever; no regard for the feelings of the witness.

I was astounded and amazed at what I had heard in those three months. I saw witnesses brake down in tears in the witness box as defence barristers ripped many elderly, vulnerable and sometimes disabled people to pieces. All in the name of British justice.

Back in the 60’s there was no dementia, well there was, but people like us were kept locked up or regarded as senile idiots. Back in the 60’s there was no health and safety, no duty of care – but there is now. The justice system have a duty of care to see that none of us are subjected in any way to any sort of ridiculed or abuse just because we have dementia. In other words if any of us are put into the unfortunate circumstance where we may have to give a witness statement to the police for something which we have seen, we must tell them right away we have this diagnosis. The chances are that they will take a statement from us but the chances are they won’t use it. Their problem comes when we are their only witness.

Consider this, you are in the witness box 7 or 8 months later, you have dementia, you are their star witness, the only witness to give first hand evidence against the person in the docks. The defence barristers job is to get the person in the dock acquitted by any means available. He knows you have dementia, he is ready to make you look a complete fool, an imbecile, belittle you in front of the jury. It matters not a jot to him if he upsets you, the more you get upset in the witness box the better, it all shows and proves how unstable you are. All the barrister has to do is to show the slightest doubt to the jury of your competence to recall events, and he will do that standing on his head.

He will ask you what you asked for breakfast this morning, what you did yesterday, last week and when you say you don’t know that slow glance at the jury with a tut as he says “you expect everyone to believe you recall what happened 8 months ago, you can’t even remember if you had corn flakes or porridge for breakfast this morning?” no one will believe a word a say all because we have this dementia.

The barrister will convince the jury that our memory perception is so unreliable that the chances or the probability of us being able to recall what happened as long ago is nil. I don’t want to suffer abuse from any barrister or solicitor and certainly don’t want to be made a fool of in a court of law, and I suspect none of you would either.

So what is the answer? Will the justice system give people living with dementia any sort of guidance, any guarantee that we will not be victimised or verbally abused? I suspect not, so the clear and the only answer is this:

“No officer, I didn’t see a thing. Sorry”