witness behaviour

[cattle]

Hi
wonder if anyone can give me advice on witness procedure in a mags court. My son was involved in a minor rta in which he has been charged, he has pleaded not guilty and subsequently has attended court. The case came to trial this week but had to be cancelled because our solicitor realised he knew one of the witnesses from a club he belonged to so was unable to represent my son and has 'subcontracted' the case to another solicitor.
We arrived in court early and actually saw the witnesses arrive and escouted to the witness room where they stayed whilst decisions were made by the magistrates wether our solicitor was allowed to discontinue. When the mags agreed the witnesses were called to sort out their availability for the new date, but we were asked to leave court before they came in. But .. as we walked out of the court room the three witnesses were sat on a bench together laughing and joking unsupervised, when we walked pass they saw us and then started chatting and laughing again. It felt very uncomfortable and we later heard that the witness liason had to remind them that they were not supposed to talk about the case. Is this a break down in court protocol and could my son's case be compromised because of this?

[Dwight Vandriver]

Not really.

Witnesses are not seperated before giving evidence unless there is a good reason or request. Once called having given their evidence unless a bench agrees an application for them to be discharged, they will sit at the rear of the Court so there is no contact with those awaiting to give evidence until after the case has been disposed of.

Any qualms make your Solicitor aware of them and any irregularities he can approach the bench and get sorted.

dvd

[chrisbb]

cheers, we will be talking with the solicitor shortly, I must admit I felt intimidated by the witnesses when I saw them particularly as one of them threatened my son with physical violence at the scene of the incident. But if this is standard procedure then there's no call for complaint.

[jasandjules]

Get your solicitor/barrister to cross examine them on what they were talking about, whilst on oath. If they start to stutter etc.. it can be a nice easy way to dis-credit the evidence they will give. Also find out (again, XX) whether they know each other and/or (even better) the other people involved in the RTA.

[autismuk]

... wouldn't it be worth making a complaint about the threat ?

[chrisbb]

the threat was disregarded by the police and not followed up, it's a long and involved case and we are hoping justice with prevail. It's just the sight of the witnesses laughing and joking possibily at my sons expense that irritated us somewhat! Also I was completly shocked and horrified how much seeing the violent chap seemed to affect my son, he said he felt sick as soon as he saw him. P'haps I'm just being an over protective parent.

[BigBob]

chrisbb said:

...... P'haps I'm just being an over protective parent.

I don't think so mate - that should come with the job description of being a parent. Unfortunately in too many cases it seems to have been left out.

Just a thought - Has your son, or do you, have any rather large mates who might like to accompany your son to Court to 'support' him.

Not suggesting that they intimidate witnesses at all - just might make your son less nervous and more able to present himself better in Court knowing that he had a 'Big Bruvva' around.


BB