Jury is dismissed in pianist trial
mainThe trial of a lecturer at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland has been halted after the sheriff ruled it risked damaging his health.
Graeme McNaught, a concert pianist, is accused of behaving in a threatening and abusive manner towards his former partner, the popular author Janice Galloway. Ms Galloway told the court she feared becoming a victim of revenge porn.
A doctor and psychiatrist have now ruled that McNaught is unfit to continue facing trial.
The sheriff dismissed the jury and will now decide alone whether he committed the alleged offence.
Details here.
If, after having dismissed the jury, the sheriff would now decide that in fact he himself committed the offence, what would that mean for Mr. McNaught? And what is this whole story supposed to mean to classical music and related cultures?
I think the story means something here since we are in the middle of a crisis of self-examination in the music world, especially in schools, following scandals. Reassessing the former culture of silence about poor and even abusive behaviour (thankfully rare) of some teachers, including emotional abuse of students, was often well-known to staff but covered up out of a pernicious embarrassment about making a fuss. Sometimes, fuss is merited. A criminal record, whether as a side-effect of mental illness of not, is simple access to potentially meaningful knowledge, and surely something one’s colleagues should be able to discuss at the very least.