Stafford Juror Suffering from PTSD

Wednesday, 19 October 2016 13:59

The horrors witnessed in the courtroom during the trial of Tori Stafford's murder continues to haunt one of the jurors.

The emotional and mental toll of the Tori Stafford murder trial continues to haunt one of the jurors.

The juror's identity is protected by a court order, but Lawyer at Legate and Associates Dan MacDonald says it is their view that their client was injured as a result of the terrible things she saw during the trial of Michael Rafferty.

"Our client started to experience events not typical of herself. She felt that her emotions were bubbling up, she started to become angry, she started to lose her short term memory. And essentially soon after she was diagnosed having suffered Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result of being the juror. She tried to seek assistance both through counselling and psychiatric assistance and because of paying for that treatment and what she was going through and what her family was going through, she tried to see if there was any way that that treatment could be funded. Unfortunately there was no way that she was able to find."

When the juror's case was brought before the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board, the board decided she did not fit the definition of a victim and denied her a hearing.

Legate and Associates is now going through an appeal process to attempt to gain support for their client and others who are living with the lasting mental effects of horrific cases. The case will be before the Court of Appeal of Ontario on November 8th.

MacDonald says there is no precedent for this kind of decision, but they are hoping if they are successful at the Court of Appeal a new classification of victim will be created for jurors.

"You're asked to give a lot to sit as a juror and sit on these cases. And part of the awareness that our client hopes to raise is to identify the fact that if we're asking that much of these individuals, shouldn't they be protected at the end?"