A masterful and deeply troubling exposé, Witness is the culmination of almost five years’ work for award-winning investigative journalist Louise Milligan. Charting the experiences of those who have the courage to come forward and face their abusers in high-profile child abuse and sexual assault cases, Milligan was profoundly shocked by what she found.
During this time, the #MeToo movement changed the zeitgeist, but time and again during her investigations Milligan watched how witnesses were treated in the courtroom and listened to them afterwards as they relived the associated trauma. Then she was a witness herself in the trial of the decade, R v George Pell.
Through these experiences, interviews with high-profile members of the legal profession, including judges, prosecutors and the defence lawyers who have worked in these cases, along with never-before-published court transcripts, Milligan lays bare the flaws that are ignored and exposes a court system that is sexist, unfeeling and weighted towards the rich and powerful.
In Witness, Milligan reveals the devastating reality that within the Australian legal system truth is never guaranteed and, for victims, justice is often elusive. And even when they get justice, the process is so bruising, they wish they had never tried.
