Not all investigations proceed to the prosecution stage. If there is no prosecution, you won’t be required to give evidence in court.

Furthermore, a prosecution may not require all witnesses to give evidence. (Sometimes, if the evidence is not contentious, the prosecution and defence can agree for evidence to be submitted to the court in written form.)

If you are required to give evidence you will normally receive a summons telling you what day you are required to appear at the court. If you live a long distance from the court, or you’re unwell, it may be possible for you to give evidence by video. The prosecutor will need to make a special application to the court for this to happen, so please inform him or her as soon as you can if you don’t think you will make it to court.       

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 if you so please. But be aware that in most cases you can’t watch the trial until after you have given your evidence.