Expert Witness Features – page 11

Creating a real gem

IN THE world of jewellery the designer-maker is not a new phenomenon; custom design has been a part of the jewellery market for years, but it is only recently that designer-makers have become such a noteworthy part of the market. The designer-maker can offer unique designs which, in the age of mass-market consumerism, are very attractive to the customer.

The pleasure and challenge of including gems in a jewellery object (beyond the intrinsic beauty of the gem, of course) is to resolve the various factors that come into play.

Difficult doctors; sick doctors: behavioural forensics in clinician misconduct and malpractice

THE PUBLIC has probably complained about clinicians’ behaviour since the beginning of medicine, but malpractice litigation is an extreme and ineffective form of feedback as even successful suits do not require any change in the defendants’ behaviour.

Furthermore, the culture of clinical practice is defensive of the practitioner rather than the patient due to an outdated sense of privilege, particularly among physicians, which results in a form of professional narcissism and closing of ranks that can make things even more difficult for the plaintiff.

Horses for courses: the equestrian expert

JENNIFER HAM’s equestrian experience has stood her in good stead in court since 1998, when she was first approached to compile an expert witness report in a case concerning a riding school accident. Here, she shares some of that experience.

Why would you need an animal behaviour expert?

THERE IS a range of legislation relating to animals kept by members of the public; perhaps most notably are the recent Animal Welfare Act (2006), the Dogs Act (1871), the Dangerous Dogs Act (1991) and the Animals Act (1971).

In addition, there are cases brought under other matters where the role of an animal expert may be key. For example, in a hypothetical case of an injury to a child in which a parent has allegedly caused that injury, it may be worth considering if the household pet could have been involved by inadvertently knocking the child over or off a piece of furniture.

Uncovering the tracks

AS COMPUTER users get more and more adept at disguising their identity, deleting and over-writing their data and destroying the hardware, so the job of the forensic computer examiner gets ever more challenging.

The most important ground rule is to preserve the evidence as soon as possible. If computers continue to be used, deleted data is over-written and important secondary sources such as printer spoolers, cache and internet histories become corrupted with fresh data.