Tough Stuff

A judge of my acquaintance is wont to say, when delivering an address to newly-sworn magistrates, that you must be prepared, in the line of duty, to ruin someone's life.

We got close to that today, convicting a man in his fifties of an offence that will assuredly result in him losing his job and being unable to get another in the same line of business.

He deserved it, and our verdict was one that we were comfortable with. Nevertheless, it is an awesome thing to look into a man's eyes and tell him that his world has just fallen apart.