CARMEL RICKARD: How to work with child witnesses
SA’s judicial officers need training when it comes to dealing with child witnesses in court. It’s an issue new chief justice Raymond Zondo would do well to take to heart
Across the Sub-Saharan region, courts have a recurring problem with cases involving child witnesses in matters involving sexual abuse or violence. I’ve long lost count of judgments about trials that collapse because of mishandling of a child witness, or convictions that are overturned on appeal because the higher court finds the trial court was wrong about some aspect of how to treat a child witness.
That’s why I was so intrigued by a new report, out this week — “Adjudicating Sexual Offence Matters Involving Children as Victims” — commissioned by the University of Pretoria’s Centre for Child Law, with the Child Witness Institute...
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