A rape survivor says she has been ‘vindicated’ after the lawyer representing her attacker was found to have abused his position by questioning her sexual history and appearing to suggest she had a personality disorder during a trial.
Ellie Wilson, 26, filed a complaint against Lorenzo Alonzi after he told jurors it was an ‘injustice’ her rapist and ex-boyfriend Daniel McFarlane was set to be jailed while Ms Wilson graduated with a first-class masters degree with distinction.
Advocate Mr Alonzi – a senior Scottish lawyer qualified to take on the most serious criminal cases – also questioned whether she had a personality disorder, without any medical evidence, and commented on her sexual history in his closing remarks.
The Faculty of Advocates’ complaints committee unanimously upheld five of Ms Wilson’s complaints, calling his behaviour ‘inappropriate’ and ‘discourteous’.
The sanction against the lawyer is yet to be decided – with reports suggesting he could face a fine of up to £3,000, surrender the fee he was paid to take McFarlane’s case, bangcacloai.com pay Ms Wilson compensation or be given an official reprimand.
Ellie Wilson, whose rapist Daniel McFarlane was represented by Mr Alonzi in court
Lorenzo Alonzi has been reprimanded by the Faculty of Advocates’ complaints committee over how he conducted himself during a rape trial
Five of Ms Wilson’s complaints were upheld unanimously by the Faculty of Advocates’ complaints committee
Today Ms Wilson, from Glasgow, says she feels ‘vindicated’ at the verdict, after a long and costly battle to obtain a copy of the trial transcript that has already transformed Scotland’s attitude towards open justice for survivors of sexual violence.
‘I left court feeling humiliated and traumatised by what happened and I think that often a lot of people within the legal profession would say (the way he conducted himself) was normal, and I knew it wasn’t,’ she told MailOnline.
‘To be vindicated means everything to me. What I experienced in court had such a huge impact on me – I was left suicidal, and I had to take time off work.
‘That was because of the treatment of Lorenzo Alonzi. It was because of him I felt like that.’
