People who give evidence in court
If you are required to give evidence in an SFO trial you will be contacted by a member of the investigation team who will explain the process of giving evidence to you. That person will also meet you in court and guide you through the experience.
If you have any questions or concerns in the lead up to a trial you will be welcome to contact the member of the investigation team and discuss your concerns.
To give evidence, the prosecutor will call you into the witness box. You can either swear on a bible or Koran to tell the truth or you can promise to tell the truth (affirm). The prosecutor will then take you through your evidence, based on the brief of evidence which has been filed at the court. He or she may also ask you additional questions.
You can expect to be cross examined by the defence lawyer. Sometimes the judge will also ask questions.
Your evidence will be recorded and typed into a transcript (called notes of evidence) that will be given to the judge, prosecutor and defence lawyer.
Once you’ve finished giving evidence, you will usually be given permission to leave the court. You’re entitled to watch the rest of the trial but in most cases you can’t watch the trial until after you have given your evidence.