The only question you are here to decide today is whether my client sexually assaulted his patient.
Ava Beckinsale comes from a broken home as you have seen here. Parents at war with each other, coming to terms with their daughters sexuality. But they both decided to take their daughter to my client. For help. In desperation. And they didn’t just go on a whim. They went because, as we heard, a former patient referred them to him.
My client told Patricia Beckinsale, Ava Beckinsale’s mother, exactly what he intended to do. He held nothing back, and his treatment plan was consented to in writing by an underage child’s parent as required by law. Agree with her or not, a mother took her daughter to a medical professional. That mother did not see any danger to her child and told you she still doesn’t.
In fact, Ava Beckinsale admitted she suffered no injuries. No marks, no pains, no symptoms. She now complains she had no idea what was happening to her, yet never once asked the doctor or her parents what went on during her sessions. And she never refused the treatment in the months leading up to her last session. On top of that she has admitted my client asked if she'd like her parents to be in the room during her sessions and she refused to allow them. Does that sound like a monster to you? A man with the intent to harm someone?
Ladies and gentlemen, I want you to think with your heads, not your hearts. If you take the emotion out of it, my learned colleague is right, this becomes a very clear cut case. Did my client attempt to cure Ava Beckinsale of homosexuality based on successful treatments he had performed on others? Yes, he did. Did he sexually stimulate her during that treatment? Yes, he did. Again, he's never denied it. Did he have consent? Yes, he did. From an under aged child's mother. Did he treat this any differently from any other medical treatment he performs during the course of his practice? No. It was performed in his office at regularly scheduled appointment times while his office staff was on duty, the proper consent was given, the proper paperwork was maintained, and the patient was allowed to have someone present in the room with her.
And despite the prosecution’s assertions about the Australian Medical Association and World Health Organization, they do not determine under New South Wales law what a genuine medical treatment is. The medical profession is filled with those having radical ideas for the best means of curing people. Helping people. And not all of them are supported by these two organizations. That doesn't make them automatically invalid.
In the end, a broken family dynamic is why we are here. You can call Dr. Van Gould’s treatment of Ava Beckinsale many things. A pointless endeavor. Religious ideology gone haywire. A huge misunderstanding. But don’t call it a sexual crime. It's clearly not and an innocent man’s career is on the line.”
After the jurors were led out of the courtroom to begin deliberations, the wait began. No one knew how long it would take but both the defense and prosecution thought they had a clear cut case. The jury disagreed. Ava didn't get the call that they had reached a decision for three long days. Days she spent at the gym focusing on her training.
Her boys and father sat on either side of her in the courtroom as they listened to the judge go on and on. After he finished, she couldn't remember a thing he had said. She’d spent the entire time scanning the faces of the jury for any sign of what they had decided.
The result left her in shock. Turned out the prosecution and the defense had both been wrong. The jury had not been able to agree on a verdict. Dr. Van Gould was walking free, at least until the prosecution decided if they would retry him. It also turned out that Ava wasn't as prepared for what she considered a loss as she thought she was.
She sank down into her seat, a crushing pressure gripping her.Oh holy hell. The courtroom cleared quickly, after the media, who had been allowed inside the courtroom for the verdict, had gotten their pictures of her devastated figure. She felt her father’s arm reach around her shoulders and pull her in for a quick hug as he whispered he was going to get the car. Her friends eased her up and began to escort her out past the smattering of Van Gould supporters that called her horrible names.
She moved into the media throng outside the courthouse which Chris and Ruben tried to shield her from, numb to it, but she did make out some of the questions thrown at her.
“Ava! Do you blame toxic masculinity for this? Do you fear and hate men?”
“Do you think your image has taken a beating now?”
“Are you no longer Australia’s sweetheart?”
“Are you afraid the country won’t support you now?”
“What’s your message to Australia?”
Ava stopped and turned, unsure who had asked what, looking from camera to camera. “Of course I don’t hate all men. That’s stupid. People can think whatever they like. It’s a free country. I’d never want to tell people how to think. I don’t have a message for anyone except Veronica Nash. This won’t distract me. I would love to have people’s support, but I can’t bank on it. I’m going to do the best I can because that’s all I can do. Starting Saturday morning at six, I’ll be at Wanda Beach tackling the sandhills. Right back at my training. Putting in the hard work. Never giving up.”
More questions came, but she ignored them all as she rounded the corner, There was one thing she couldn’t ignore. The one thing most people couldn’t ignore, the sound of their mother’s voice.
“Ava?”
She turned to see Patricia by a doorway leading out from the side of the courthouse, standing in a calm manner.
“Can we talk? Alone?”
Ava looked at her boys and motioned to them that it was OK. Once they had moved far enough away, she closed in on her mother. “You were never one to gloat, mum.”
“And I’m not now. I truly hope you see the truth. I want you to see reason. God defends the righteous. Can you not see that now? All of this nonsense could have been avoided if you’d have just listened to us, the people that truly love you.
Look at what’s happened to you. The injuries. The pain. You’re being punished Ava, like I said you would be. I am begging you to stop this. I didn’t raise you to be like this. A punching bag for money.
Do you do all this just to shame me? Sex with women? Getting beaten senseless? Living with queers? All of it? All of your potential and you’ve squandered it. All you could’ve done, all you could’ve achieved and you’re nothing.”
“Patricia,” came her father’s voice, who approached the scene from behind Ava. He looked like he’d aged ten years since leaving the courtroom. For the first time in three years, all three Beckinsales were face-to-face and acknowledging it. There was an ice cold stare between the former husband and wife, and for what seemed an eternity, nothing was said.
“I hope you’ve learnt something today too, Bill.”
“Oh, I’ve learned plenty. Evil exists, and good doesn’t necessarily defeat it all the time. But, thankfully, that doesn’t stop good people from trying. Especially against the likes of you and your ilk.”
“Excuse me?”