Going to court and giving evidence

If there is a trial, it is likely that you will have to give evidence. Your investigating officer will keep you informed about when the trial is going to happen and when you will be needed.

Police might give you a summons to attend court. This is a legal document which tells you that you have to go to court to give evidence. You may be referred to as a witness.

If you are required to attend court as a witness, and you live far away from the court, you might get help from the Police or DPP to attend.  You might also be able to apply for financial assistance to help you attend.

The prosecutor with your case will hold a pre-trial conference with you. They should give you information about:

• where you need to go
• when you need to be at court
• what you can expect
• what support you need.

The prosecutor might want to talk to you about what you have said in your police statement. You can have a support person with you during the pre-trial conference, but it can’t be someone who is also a witness in your case.

The prosecutor will also talk to you about different ways you can be supported when you are giving evidence. This might include:

• having a support person be with you in court
• giving pre-recorded evidence before the trial takes place
• be able to be in a different room to the room that the defendant is in when you give your evidence
• having rest breaks
• be asked questions in a way that are easy to understand
• having an interpreter for a language other than English or Auslan
• having an audio loop or Auslan translator if you have hearing difficulties.

If you don’t have a support person like a family member or friend (who is not a witness in your case), there are services that can help you during court. PACT is a government-funded organisation which helps child and adult victims and witnesses.

The prosecutor has to ask the court’s permission to allow you to have some of these support options. To support the prosecutor’s request for some of the support measures, the prosecutor may ask you for any material that you might have. This material would be provided to the court in support of the prosecutor’s request. The defence is able to make arguments about whether or not the support options should be allowed. The court will decide about what support options are okay. Your prosecutor will tell you about about your requests for support.

At the pre-trial conference, the prosecutor will talk to you about making a victim impact statement. A victim impact statement tells the court how you have been harmed by what has happened to you. The prosecutor might ask you to think about whether you would like to prepare a victim impact statement before the trial so it is ready if the defendant is found guilty. This is because a sentence can sometimes happen straight after trial. It is your right to be able to give the court a victim impact statement. More information about making a victim impact statement can be found here.