Sarah Lavis

I know a little bit controversial to what a lot of people think about the courtroom being more victim focused.

I think I fall into the category of that makes me concerned that then are we moving into who's the perfect victim?

Like when you're starting to put photos there and you're starting to, like I know with your family member, you're always putting forward they were, you know, in the prime of their life, they were this and that, but then don't we want justice also for the, you know, the sex worker that's addicted to drugs on the street?

I want her to get the same justice that I get.

And I find sometimes already in media we have that kind of,

If you are the perfect victim, if you come from the right family, if you look a certain way, that's my concern.

Is that then going to sway the jury depending on how you look, how people represent you, what your family says about you, or if you are just the grumpy old man who lives down the street that has no family?

I think that...

Once you start bringing more victim-focused, then you're kind of starting to get into that territory that we're already in.

Yeah, because as a victim, the court's not about me.

I don't want it to be about me.

I want it to be about the crime and the perpetrator.

The more we go into victim territory, then the more the defence starts pulling victims apart, starts going through their life story, and then we as victims then have to defend ourselves more, right?

which is what we've seen over and over again.

I think it should be based on the perpetrator, on the crimes that they've committed, and everybody should be equal as a victim.

I didn't know he was stalking me really till after the fact.

I'd said a few times, I feel like someone had been in my house.

to my friends.

And because I was 19 and young, everyone was like, oh, I think, you know, I think maybe you're just thinking too much into it.

And I had a key go missing, my spare key.