If you are charged in court for a criminaloffence, you would first be brought before a criminal mentioncourt. The charge would be officially read and explained to youand you will be asked if you want to claim trial or plead guiltyto the charge. "Pleading guilty" means that you admit that youare guilty as charged. "Claiming trial" means that you do notthink you are guilty of the charge.

If you claim trial, the mention court will fix the case for apre-trial conference (PTC) for the purpose of ascertaining if thecase is ready for trial. You would have to attend this conferencetogether with the prosecution, i.e. police prosecutor or deputypublic prosecutor. The judge will be informed of the nature of theevidence and the number of witnesses that would be submitted andcalled up by the prosecution and you at the PTC. Thereafter, thejudge will appoint a date for the trial.

In a criminal trial, the prosecution will present his/her casefirst. This is done through the calling of witnesses to giveevidence. When the first witness is on the stand, the rest of thewitnesses must remain outside the courtroom. When theprosecution's witness is on the stand, the prosecution will havethe first chance to ask the witness questions i.e."examination-in-chief". You have to listen carefully to thequestions and the replies given. You can question the witnessafter the prosecution has finished asking all his/her questions.What you are doing is known as cross-examining the witness. Thepurpose of cross- examination is to let you challenge the evidencegiven by the witness for its reliability and truthfulness. Youshould not ask questions that will embarrass or insult thewitness.

After your cross-examination, the prosecution will have a chanceto re-examine the witness. After the prosecution have called alltheir witnesses, the court will decide if the prosecution havepresented a sufficiently strong case such that you must answer thecharge. If so, the court will ask you to state your defence andgive you two options. The first is to give evidence from thewitness stand on oath and you would also be cross-examined by theprosecutor. Alternatively, you can choose to remain silent but thecourt make certain assumptions based on the evidence presentedagainst you as well as your silence when faced with theseevidence.

Assuming that you have chosen to give evidence, you will usuallybe the first person testifying for the defence and the prosecutionwill cross-examine you after you have told your version of thestory to the court. You will proceed to call your witnesses afteryou are done on the stand and the same procedure ofexamination-in-chief-cross examination- re-examination applies.

At the end of the trial, you would be given the opportunity tomake a closing submission, which should be a summary of theevidence in your favour as well as the reasons for arguing thatthe evidence you have presented is more believable than theprosecution's. You may emphasise the strengths of your case aswell as highlight the weakness of the prosecution's case.

The court may pronounce the verdict immediately after listening tosubmissions or the court may adjourn the case to take more time toconsider its decision. If you are not satisfied with the result,you should instead file an appeal with the Crime Registry within10 calendar days from the pronouncement of the verdict. The appealcan be against either the verdict or the sentence or both.