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Court procedures

Giving evidence in a Youth Court are much like giving evidence in a Magistrates Court, except the proceedings are a lot less formal.  As with an adult Magistrates Court you will be asked to swear an oath or affirmation, dependent on your religious belief before answering any questions that are asked by either the prosecutor or the defence counsel.

Who asks you questions first depends upon whom you are a witness for.  If you are a witness for the prosecution you will be asked questions first by the prosecutor and cross-examined second by the defence counsel.  If you are a witness for the defence it will be the other way round, defence asking questions first and prosecution cross-examining second. 

When you are answering questions:

• Listen carefully to the questions before answering
• Answer questions as clearly as you can.  Try to speak slowly and direct your answers to the Magistrate
• If you don’t know the answer to a question, say ‘I don’t know’.  There is nothing wrong with not knowing something or not remembering things and forgetting is natural if the incident happened a long time ago.
• Never answer a question you do not understand.  You can ask the questions to be asked in a different way so that you do understand.
• Never guess or make anything up, remember you must ALWAYS TELL THE TRUTH.

Once you have finished answering questions the Magistrates will normally tell you that you can leave.

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