http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/opinions/C158_00.html
APPEAL COURT, HIGH COURT OF JUSTICIARY
Lord Justice General
Lord Philip
Lord Carloway
C158/00
OPINION OF THE COURT
delivered by THE LORD JUSTICE GENERAL
in
APPEAL AGAINST CONVICTION AND SENTENCE
in causa
JERZY BONCZA-TOMASZEWSKI (also known as GEORGE FRASER)
Appellant;
against
HER MAJESTY'S ADVOCATE
Respondent:
_______
Appellant: Targowski, Q.C., Anthony; John Laurie & Co.
Respondent: Menzies, Q.C., A.D.; Crown Agent
2 June 2000
[1] The appellant is Jerzy Boncza-Tomaszewski who is also known as George Fraser. In 1940 he was a member of the Polish forces fighting in France who were evacuated to Britain at Dunkirk. He was then stationed at Arbroath and married Ethel Scott Fraser later that year. After the war a niece came from Germany to live with the appellant and his wife. In 1948, on the basis of complaints made by his niece, the appellant and his wife were indicted for trial in the High Court at Dundee on elaborate charges of assaulting his niece and treating her cruelly and unnaturally to her grievous hurt and bodily injury. The appellant and his wife were represented by the same counsel. From various comments in the papers it is apparent that the trial was conducted against the background of a heated atmosphere of public hostility to the appellant, partly at least due to his national origin. The indictment itemised various alleged events which were said to have occurred on different occasions. At the end of the evidence for the Crown and defence the Advocate Depute withdrew the libel against Mrs. Boncza-Tomaszewski. On 25 May 1948, however, the appellant was convicted of items 1, 11, 12, 15, 18 and 19 on the indictment and sentenced to seven years penal servitude. He appealed against his conviction but on 22 October 1948 the appeal court refused his appeal. The appellant served his sentence and was released in 1953. He and his wife divorced, though they have remained on good terms. The appellant stayed on in this country, remarried and raised a second family. The appellant's niece has since died.
Read the full judgement: http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/opinions/C158_00.html
