I went to the courts today. Cardiff Crown Court. For a trial.
Ooohh...
Witnessing lah, not trying! Choi choi choi.
It's all for our Expert Witness assignment. My friends and I figured that since we are so pathetically clueless about the judiciary system here, it'd be good to go and sit in on some trials, since the Crown Court is a stone's throw away from Redwood. And it's free. :)
The first trial we witnessed was so anti-climax. The guy pleaded guilty barely 5 seconds into the whole hearing and the next thing we know, we were out of the courtroom. That quick.
But that wasn't what we're here for, I exclaimed! We wanted to see lawyers cross-examine witnesses and present their case so that we know what to replicate in 10 days time. In front of the whole class.
Completely unsatisfied, I told Jinal I was staying put. I'm not leaving until I saw another trial. 2 of other friends had commitments so they left. We went back to the drawing board and checked out the other trials that were in progress. The next available trial was in court 5, and so we went.
This time around, it was a series of preliminary hearings, which is a bit like appointment-booking if you ask me. Basically, the prosecutors gave a background to the case and asked the judge for x amount of time to service the paperwork before proceeding with the case. The judge then looked at the present schedule and fixed a later date to resume the trial.
Full stop. All rise.
What???
Nooooooooo, that again was not what I woke up early for! (We agreed to go at 10am).
This time, Jinal wasn't staying. She had a group meeting back at Redwood at 12pm and she left.
Still unsatisfied, I stayed back at Court 5 antiticipating more action.
I want to see fights! I want to see heated arguments! I want to be wow-ed!
True to form, the next hearing was indeed a trial. 3 guys were tried for assaulting someone... or er, something like that. The jury were called in and they each took their oaths.
I rubbed my hands with glee.
The prosecutor stood up.
"Your honour, I am Ms X, prosecutor for this case and may I introduce my learned friends, Mr Z, Mr Q and Mr R who are representing the defendants."
...
...
...
She said some technical stuff I couldn't remember, and then my worse fears were confirmed.
"The witnesses were originally told not to attend the trial until tommorow. I'm afraid there won't be any provision of statements from the them today and would therefore like to ask Your Honour for this case to be postponed till tomorrow."
*&%#!!!!!
But I have a class tomorrow at 10am! And I'm booked up for the whole week! I won't have time to poke my nose in the Crown Court till next week, which will be too late for my assignment!
Sigh, my whole morning was wasted. If I had seen some cute lawyers then I wouldn't feel so bad, but this? Totally unacceptable.
And later on when I recounted the incident to my friends, I said our 'outing' was a bit like trial and error. We just have to try enough times to get the right case!
Yes yes, I like puns ;)
3 comments:
This is a funny post. What sort of assignments do u have? That you will need to attend court trials... =P
Trust me girl, it's not funny...
Ok. Expert witness is someone with qualifications and experience who assists the tribunal by helping them understand an particular field by giving their expert opinion. Gee, that;s a long sentence :)
As pharmacists, we may find ourselves in this situation where we're asked to provide expert opinion in court for cases related to drugs etc. To prepare us for that, we've been given (as a group) one past case to research on, and later re-enact in front of the class. We have to pretend as if the case is real and act out the court scene. Not easy given none of us are lgeally-trained! Wish me luck...
Aiks, if you knew earlier you would have to do such thing in this semester, I could have brought you to our magistrate court here! Been there for a few weeks last year for internship, and yes, it could be boring or interesting. Now u mention it, I would really love the chance to get into a UK court!
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