Preparing to testify
Victims, like other witnesses, are summoned at a specific time. Your legal rights protector lets you know when you are required to be there and is there to support you during the process.
Going to the district court
Those who give testimony before the court are not permitted to listen to the testimony of those who are called up before them. That is why you wait outside the courtroom until you are shown in. You will most likely give testimony right after the perpetrator. Sometimes testimony can take longer than accounted for and you may have to wait longer than you thought at first. After you have given testimony, you can stay to watch the trial if you want to.
Private trial
Most sexual offence cases are pleaded behind closed doors and are not open to the public.
In the courtroom
When it is your turn to testify, you walk into the courtroom and sit down on the witness stand. Those present in the courtroom are the judge, the prosecutor, the perpetrator’s defence, and your legal rights protector. The perpetrator may be present as well. The perpetrator has the right to be in the courtroom, but they often excuse themselves or choose to not be present.
Usually the courtrooms are small rooms, so people are sometimes in closer proximity than you might have expected beforehand. The perpetrator might therefore be sitting a few metres away from you as they have the right to be in the courtroom the whole time.
Who sits where?
The prosecutor and your legal rights protector sit on the left side of the courtroom. The perpetrator and their defence sit on the right side. The judge is in the middle. A good piece of advice is to just look at the judge and speak to them, or in the direction that the District Prosecutor and your legal rights protector are sitting in order to draw strength from them.
Request for the defendant to leave the courtroom
It is possible to request that the defendant not be present in the courtroom while you give testimony. Your legal rights protector is the one who submits that request. Sometimes the perpetrator agrees to leave, but if not, the judge rules on whether they must leave or not.
Questions and instructions from the judge
First, the judge will ask you what your name is and briefly explain how the proceedings will go. The judge tells you that you are required to speak truthfully and correctly, and that not doing so before the court is a punishable offence. That doesn’t mean that the judge expects you to lie, rather it is the judge’s obligation to instruct victims on this. The judge says the same thing to all witnesses.
If the perpetrator is a close family member of yours, the judge will inform you that you are not required to give testimony..
What should I say?
Usually, the victim is first asked to recount the incident in question and then the prosecutor will ask about specific details. After the prosecutor has asked questions, the defence is offered the chance to ask questions and sometimes the legal rights protector and judge ask questions as well.
It’s OK to be unsure
The goal of listening to your account is to shed light on the incidents of the case.
You are recalling difficult details in difficult circumstances. It is therefore OK, and in fact important, to say if you don’t remember some facts of the case or if you are unsure about them. Sometimes the judge, prosecutor, or defence review what you said in your police statement and ask whether that description was correct
After giving testimony
After you have given testimony, you may leave the courtroom or stay and follow along with the case proceedings.