Note to reader
This story is the first in a mini series based in the same 'world' as my Fraudulent Judicial Punishment story but is not linked so you don't need to read one before the other.
This first chapter of this story has very little 'action' in it. There is nudity and search but the focus of this chapter is the process of being sentenced to corporal punishment.
Please do give me feedback. I'm still very new to this and will happily accept guidance and ideas from readers. Remember though, if you comment or feedback anonymously, I can't reply.
Hope you enjoy. Assuming people are interested in what happens to Rosie, I will continue writing.
Jdb123
**
Rosie's DUI Court Appearance
She stood in the dock of the courtroom and could barely keep herself from vomiting. It had been an unbelievable 12 hours since Rosie was out in the city with her friends. She was still dressed as she had been when she walked into the bar to meet everyone in person for the first time in several months. She reflected now that perhaps this wasn't the best outfit of choice for a court appearance. Not that she'd had much choice having been brought here directly from the police cell.
She was wearing a dress that clung to her butt and her chest without covering as much of her legs as she would like for a court appearance. The officer had given her back her high shoes when he let her out of the cell this morning on the way to court. Her hair was now tied back in a simple ponytail after the officer at the police station had provided the bobble and she imagined it probably looked something of a mess. She had naturally dark hair, but it was dyed into a subtle red colour. Her purse had not been returned to her, nor had her jewellery so she had no belongings.
The lockdown, as a result of the covid pandemic, had seen Rosie alone in her flat for most of the time and she was nervous about the evening as she walked in and saw her friends. It was so lovely to see everyone and in no time at all, a glass of champagne had been thrust into her hand, and then another and then another.
Rosie had had an excellent evening catching up with her friends. The only problem was, she had driven into town, perhaps naively, not expecting to drink.
When they eventually got asked to leave as the bar closed, she had realised that she'd had too much champagne to drive. That was obvious. But she couldn't leave the car where she had parked. In the morning, it would be illegally parked and would get towed away, so she decided moving it around the corner would be ok. It really wasn't far and the road was quiet. Then, she'd get a taxi back with ar to sleep at hers.
She looked through the glass of the dock and surveyed the room.
It wasn't like she had seen on TV. There was no wooden panelling for a start. Everything looked crisp and professional and almost like a normal office building save for the layout, and th dock and the bench where the magistrates would sit.
There were maybe twenty people in the room on the other side of the security glass. She was embarrassed already that they were going to watch what happened to her. Looking at them, she assumed they were mostly solicitors and there was a general murmur of chatter in the room. It seemed bizarrely informal. She hated being the centre of attention and was much happier on the side-lines of whatever was going on in most situations. She was a university lecturer and it was different there -- she was the expert and people were quiet to listen. Not like in social situations.
She was locked in a dock, that much she did recognise from TV. There was a solid wall about waist height and then large glass panels to the ceiling with gaps between so she could hear what was happening in court.
She had come up a flight of stairs with the police officer that was stood with her and the door she came in, put her straight into the dock. In the small space, she registered the fact she was probably due a shower and felt embarrassed again, glancing at the police officer who was entirely disinterested in the entire scene as he looked like he'd rather be pretty much anywhere else.
She looked over at her solicitor who was sitting chatting to his colleague. A nice looking blonde lady in a sharp suit. It appeared to Rosie that perhaps her current plight was not at the forefront of his mind as he flirted with the solicitor. She wondered just how much use he was about to be. She was going to be in a fair bit of trouble and he has already warned her that hers were now classic offences that attracted corporal punishment. This obviously worried her greatly, but equally so did the university finding out what had happened. Her solicitor did seem to give the impression that corporal punishment could offer a relatively quick, albeit extremely painful, way out of this mess she'd got herself into.
She was distracted from this thread as she heard someone shout, "all rise" and everyone in the court room stood as 3 people walked in through a door at the front and sat in the three big chairs on the raised platform. There were two women and one man, the women being easily in their sixties, but the man being furthest away was harder to call. They were all dressed professionally and none of them gave anything away in their faces.
Everyone sat back down again leaving Rosie and the police officer in the dock with her as the only two standing.
"Good morning everyone." said the lady sat in the middle of the 3, "Looking at my list, we have the matter of 'Thompson' up first?"
"Yes ma'am. Rosie Thompson appearing from custody charged with two offences. We're ready to proceed in that matter". This came from a portly gentleman sat infront of the three magistrates.
"Very well" came the formal, clipped reply.
The man turned to the dock "Are you Rosie Thompson?" he enquired across the room.
"Errr yes . . Sir"
He confirmed her address and date of birth.
"You are charged that last night, in the county of Greater West, you drove a motor vehicle on a public road whilst over the prescribed limit of alcohol by breath namely 94 micrograms per 100 millilitres with the legal maximum being 35. For this matter, how do you plead?"
Panic took over. The formality of that terrified her. She had to plead guilty to a criminal offence in a court room! Her solicitor had briefed her on this when he met her in the cell about an hour ago. They had decided that there was no escaping it and to plead guilty early would be best. She couldn't find the words. The silence in the court room continued as the man looked at her with no hint of emotion in his face. The career bureaucrat, dealing with yet another silly girl, neither patient or impatient.
She glanced at her solicitor who smiled and nodded encouragingly. "errr guilty," she managed.
"Thank you" the man continued. "Further, you are charged that on the same occasion in the county of Greater West, you drove that motor vehicle on a road or other public place, namely Queen Street, when there was not in force in relation to that use, a policy of insurance in respect of third party risks contrary to section 143 of the Road Traffic Act 1984 and Schedule 2 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988. To that charge, how do you plead?"
"Guilty" Rosie said, looking at the floor.
"Very well. Sit down," the man replied.
The blonde lady that Rosie's solicitor had been flirting with before the magistrates came in stood up. She had her hair tied back into a formal ponytail and put glasses on to read. She was medium height and build and was certainly not unattractive, even to Rosie whose mind was certainly not focused on the merits of the counsel for the prosecution.
When she spoke, she had a professional voice with almost no accent and although she had her laptop open, didn't seem to need to read from it very much.
"Your worships, my name is Miss Robinson and I appear for The Crown Prosecution Service. PC 17798 Phillips was on routine patrol in the city centre last night when she observed the defendant getting into a black car. The defendant drove out of a side road and onto the main road, clipping the kerb during her manoeuvre. PC Phillips turned her patrol car around and switched on the emergency lighting indicating for the driver to pull over her car. She did so without incident and was required to provide a sample of breath for analysis which she did and so failed the road side breath test resulting in her being arrested.
"At the police station, Ms Thompson provided two samples of breath, the lower of which was 94. In fairness to Ms Thompson, PC Phillips did not indicate any elements of bad driving save for clipping the kerb.
"Further checks revealed that Ms Thompson's policy of insurance had expired and she was consequently driving without insurance.
"Unless I can be of any further assistance, your worships."
She sat down. She had managed to summarise the last terrible 12 hours into about 90 seconds and in doing so had all but convicted Rosie in two or three sentences. By the look of her, she had already moved into the next case on her laptop. Rosie couldn't believe it. How could she have been so stupid. She was sure she was about to wake up from this nightmare.