Tracey’s day in court, translated

Tracey Morris just cannot seem to help herself. Her most recent video, posted Friday night after a day spent in magistrates court, is yet another stunning display of ill-conceived braggadocio, strange misapprehensions about the courts and legal system, and unwarranted and/or false allegations—some against the very people she stands accused of harassing.

As we listened, we tried to work out exactly what had happened in court. Not an easy task, as while Tracey is full of bluster and false bravado, she rarely presents any actual, you know, facts.

However, as far as we can gather, it went something like this: Tracey is facing charges related to the death of her daughter Corinne Rice, who was found hanged at Regina Coeli, a Belfast shelter for homeless women.

Tracey, having taken it into her head that her daughter did not take her own life, but was murdered, began accusing staff members at Regina Coeli, loudly and publicly. She was arrested and charged with harassment on 21 October 2017.

At that time, we wrote:

Ms Rice was seen very drunk the night before her death. When she returned to the hostel she was placed on suicide watch for the remainder of the night. She got up in the morning and seemed all right, but some time later she committed suicide in the shower.

Tracey is accusing the staff of being involved in her daughter’s death, and her arrest appears to be related to threats she has made against staff at the hostel. She stated in one video, “Every member of staff is involved in the cover-up in that place”.

Stating that the hostel is in the habit of taking in young women and murdering them, Tracey is also alleging that her daughter was drugged prior to her death, and at one point mentioned having her body exhumed and drugs-tested. (She did say “consumed”, but we assume she meant “exhumed”.)

Tracey is also claiming that social workers had told Ms Rice that she would be able to get her children back if she kept them away from Tracey. Again, the veracity of this statement has not been confirmed.

Tracey goes for broke

At this point, instead of backing off and waiting for her trial date, Tracey decided to lead a protest march at the gates of the hostel the following week, complete with loudhailers and more accusations against hostel staff. On a scale of 1 to 10, how surprised would you be to learn that she was arrested following this escapade?

We assume that her appearance in magistrates court on Friday was related to the charges laid against her in October, though she doesn’t specify that in the video.

She does, however, go through her usual palaver about “[the courts] are terrified of me, they’re intimidated by me”. She also congratulates herself on not having breached her bail conditions, as though this is especially meritorious behaviour.

She also notes that she and her supporters sat quietly in court and didn’t have to be spoken to once! Mirabile dictu!

However, she seemed surprised that the magistrate disapproved of her and her supporters’ choice of attire: t-shirts with silk-screened images of a photo of her dead daughter, which she described as “a massive reminder to the people who did what they did to her”.

Bearing in mind that Tracey claims to believe that the person she’s alleged to have harassed actually murdered her daughter, and that the shirts were clearly meant as a message to that person, we have to say we weren’t particularly shocked to hear that Tracey and her gang were told that if they wore the shirts to next week’s hearing, they would be arrested for contempt of court.

Tracey’s alleged response, as she tells it on the video:

I made that judge aware that that’s my daughter—I asked the judge, ‘Do you feel intimidated by my daughter’s face on this top?’ She then told me she would do me for contempt of court, so I told her to do what she liked, it makes no difference, next week you’ll be seeing even brighter tops!

She claims to have been stunned that the person she’s accused of harassing asked to give their evidence via video link, as they felt intimidated by Tracey’s presence in the court.

From the beginning, the CPS was insistent that the person connected to the Regina Coeli hostel who put the harassment charge on me felt intimidated, and they insisted on going through a video link. We actually objected to that application, as it should have been put in before now.

According to Tracey, though, the biggest indignity came when it was her turn to give evidence, and instead of being asked to stand in the witness box, she was sent to the dock. You know, where the accused stand:

I was asked to go up into what should have been the witness box, but they put me in the glass cage, they put me into the “already found guilty” box. …

She refused to see me in that witness box like a normal adult.

Just…wow.

As it turns out, the case was adjourned to next Friday, 20 April. Tracey wasn’t pleased, but tried to make lemonade from lemons:

New allegations was put up by the prosecution, evidence that somebody screamed, I’m still trying to figure out where that came from. If they have a recording that’s good enough for me. …

But that’ll give me a week to gather up even more stuff on yous….

At the end of the day these people have no rights, I didn’t kill anybody. So there’s no grounds. There’s not one judge in this land who I fear to go up against and speak my mind.

Yes, Tracey, we bet every judge in the land is quaking in his or her boots, and they’re drawing lots as we speak to see who will have to deal with your case. We hope they have their ankle guards at the ready.