I can't speak for everybody. I can say from my own perspective that I actually...I wouldn't say “liked”, but having a judge listen to what I went through and acknowledge it as serious was very liberating for me, at both the preliminary hearing and the trial.
I found it very helpful to me in learning to stand up for myself, which I hadn't done for a number of years. I am smart enough to know that I don't know it all, and particularly in my work I constantly remind myself that everybody reacts to trauma differently. For my clients, I always remind myself that it's their life, not my life, and a lot of women do get re-victimized by it.
Defence counsel are there to do their job, and some of them are better at it than others. I'm sure my two colleagues will disagree with me, but I don't think preliminary hearings should be scrapped. I think they're an important part of the judicial system and should remain. I think I'd better leave before I get my head chopped off.