The Linguist

@Linguist_CIOL JUNE/JULY The Linguist 13 FEATURES thinking about the case. We had flashbacks of crime-scene photos and videos. Pictures of a blood-spattered bed and video of the victim were particularly hard to deal with. Sue Leschen, court interpreter When the defendant was in the dock and not giving evidence, I had to make several requests to counsel and/or the judge and witnesses to speak up, slow down and/or use their microphone. When the defendant was in the witness box giving his evidence, I would stand next to him interpreting for long periods of time – sometimes more than 1.5 hours. Occasionally I had to ask counsel to clarify their questions to ensure I had understood certain words and phrases, such as 'pants' ('underwear' or 'trousers'?), if the meaning wasn't clear from the context. Sometimes the defendant spoke very quietly, so I had to ask for repetition while trying not to interrupt the flow of his speech. Interestingly, the judge drew attention to "interpreter interruptions" in his notes for the jury and advised them to make "fair allowance" for this when assessing the defendant's evidence. On three occasions, the judge presented me with (previously unseen) lengthy documents and asked me to carry out on- sight translations there and then. Without a doubt, two court interpreters should have been allocated to a long-running assignment like this, but although conference interpreters usually work in pairs, the MoJ does not finance this sort of luxury. I sometimes felt that the court treated the defendant with more respect than me. For example, the judge would allow comfort breaks for him, with my fatigue apparently being only a secondary consideration! At the secure hospital, the experience was completely different as we were able to share our experiences and coping responses with the nursing staff as professional equals. Given my legal background and 20 years of legal interpreting experience, the legal terminology didn't cause me any difficulties, but some of the physical and mental health terminology required research on my part. This included terms for certain body parts and medication brand names. Having to interpret impact statements from the victim's family at the end of the trial, wherein they described how the murder has affected them, was harrowing. Both the victim and the defendant were very young, and I experienced conflicting emotions about their two ruined lives. Interpreting intense sessions for half or full days with only short breaks left me feeling 'brain dead' due to total cognitive and emotional overload. Overall this was an unforgettable experience that will probably continue to haunt me. Rosalind Howarth, counsel interpreter This was a new experience for me, as I had not worked on a trial of this length before. While for Sue it was intense and short term during the trial weeks, for me it was a longer assignment, as I started working with the defendant a couple of months before the trial. From mid-January 2022 I was assisting counsel at regular online meetings with the defendant, I attended a case management hearing at the end of January, and I visited the secure hospital with counsel in advance of the trial. The online meetings were very intense and some lasted for two hours. They were in the evening, which was tiring, and some of the details were traumatic. They did, however, help with my work during the trial, as I already knew a lot of details about the case and had a good idea of what to expect. I was also used to the way the defendant expressed himself. The hospital environment was unfamiliar to me at first, but the staff were extremely welcoming and accommodating. One issue was a lack of access to the trial documents, known as the 'trial bundle', which was not always available at the hospital. There were also a few issues with displaying documents, such as the police timeline and photographic evidence, on the screen. As the counsel interpreter, my job was arguably easier than Sue's, as I didn't have to interpret for long stretches during the court sessions. However, there were some long days and I often had to stay later to interpret for defendant/counsel conferences, either in the cells or in the conference room at the hospital. In court, it was hard to avoid the victim's family and as the counsel interpreter I found this particularly difficult. The trial was long, emotional and tiring, and the defendant struggled with this too, as he was trying to listen to both languages at the same time. Accounts were given by barristers, witnesses, the defendant, judge and victim's family. Often the information was difficult to hear and process, and it was hard to switch off at the end of the day. I felt quite empty and numb when the trial finished, but it was a fascinating experience and one that I will never forget. © SHUTTERSTOCK

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