Sidhu made hotel room incident 'so normal', tribunal hears

A young aspiring lawyer who took her mini-pupillage under former Criminal Bar Association chair Jo Sidhu KC said she ‘did not want sexual activity’ with the silk but felt unable to leave his hotel room, a tribunal heard today.

Sidhu faces 15 misconduct charges, all of which he denies, relating to three women who were either law students or undergoing mini-pupillage at the time of the alleged misconduct.

Person 2, who was a paralegal at the time, was offered a personal mini-pupillage with Sidhu in 2018. She told the tribunal it was her first and only mini-pupillage and she was unaware of the differences between a professional and personal mini-pupillage.

During cross examination Alisdair Williamson KC, for Sidhu, said: ‘On your witness statement…you say "although I had not wanted sexual activity to take place in this hotel room, the barrister made it feel so normal that I began to feel maybe it was normal and he really liked me" and that is what you felt, the barrister liked you in a sexual way and as a person?’

Person 2 replied ‘yes’.

Reading from Person 2’s personal impact statement, Williamson said: ‘He kissed you and you say "I was just lying there with my mouth open and him kissing me. I was simply not responding".’

Person 2, who gave evidence remotely and from behind a screen, added: ‘I remember being touched on my private parts naked. I touched his private parts at some point. I was not enthusiastic about it.’

She said: ‘The respondent made it very normal, almost as if this was a completely normal thing to have happened and for a while, for a long while, as I have maintained, [I thought] that I had been too friendly and got myself in a situation. But I made it clear I wanted to leave the room. I said many times I wanted to leave then said I would sleep on the sofa. I did not want sexual activity to happen with him that night.

‘I always knew what happened that night was wrong, but I normalised it. I put the guilt on me. I was too friendly and ended up in his hotel room. I had a normal mentorship relationship with the respondent. I went back to the hotel to work on arguments for the next day. I said I wanted to leave. I said I wanted to sleep on the sofa.

‘He made it so normal. You start to look at it and think it was not the way I thought it was. I got myself in the situation, he has not done anything wrong when that is not the case. For ages…I put the shame on me, I ended up in the situation because I was too friendly but that is not the case. I had nothing but a professional relationship with him beforehand and I asked to leave and then not being let to leave, I said I would sleep on the sofa and then after that [the] events happened.

‘I did not want to have sexual activity on that night. It wasn’t until 2021 that my rose-tinted glasses almost came off.’

She said: ‘If he had got up the next day and he said "do not say anything, you must not speak about this" it would have, in my mind, said that was something wrong. We got up the next day, we were in court the next day, it was normal. We had dinner with other barristers, carried on with the week. It was completely normal. He acted completely normal with me.'

She told the tribunal she could have ‘physically’ left the hotel room but felt unable to.

She said: ‘When you’re in that position you do not always know how you’re going to react. I was alone in a city I did not know, I did not live in. I was alone with a man much older than me. He was my senior in profession, he was a KC, I was a paralegal. He holds a lot out in terms of your careers, you do not know how you’re going to react in that situation and I did not feel I was able to leave that room.’

Sam Mercer, head of diversity & inclusion and corporate social responsibility (including Young Bar and Employed Bar) at the Bar Council told the tribunal it was the first time there had been multiple complaints about one individual through Talk to Spot, an online tool for those working at the bar to raise concerns about inappropriate behaviour.

She added: ‘We have not been in a situation before where reports to Talk to Spot transferred their report to BSB. It was new ground for us.’

The hearing continues.