The Western Cape High Court launched a dedicated victim-support room on Friday to help make witnesses feel more comfortable as they prepare to help the courts make findings of some of the country's most traumatising cases. | itchybyte
"As a presiding judge, it is sad to say that not all victims will make it to this room," said Deputy Judge President Patricia Goliath, who presided over the Anene Booysen case in Bredasdorp in 2013. The room is set at the end of a passage, away from the courtroom, so that victims and witnesses are spared feeling exposed while they wait to be called.
A little play table surrounded by brightly coloured chairs has been set up, with small toys at the ready for busy or nervous fingers. The Western Cape High Court unveiled a victim support room as a calm and private space for witnesses who are going to testify Court intermediaries, who help child and adult witnesses make sense of court processes, will also have a place to sit privately and help them manage the trauma of being in a court building and possibly about to see the accused.A donor has provided new glossy lifestyle magazines for the adults to flip through for a moment of escapism.
The plan is to also have a stock of breakfast cereals and milk for witnesses whose cupboards are bare at home. On really bad days, an accused's family can unsettle a witness by glaring at them or threatening them as they walk past them while they wait on a bench in the corridor.
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