Victims who are not witnesses

Victims who are not witnesses
In most cases, a victim will be called to give evidence as a witness, but this may not always happen. If you are not to be a witness in the case you may not be informed of the trial. If you want to find out the date of the trial you could contact the Court or the Procurator Fiscal (PF)Often just called the Fiscal. The Procurator Fiscal is the public prosecutor in Scotland. The PF is in charge of deciding whether someone should be prosecuted and what court the case  should be heard in. The prosecution has the 'burden of proof' which means that they need to present enough evidence to prove 'beyond reasonable doubt' that an accused person is guilty. The PF prosecutes the crime on behalf of the Crown, and makes decisions in the public interest (see below). (see Crown Office) office, although they will need the name of the accused to find this information. You should also quote the reference number from any correspondence you may have received. If you do not have this information or they are unable to help, (for example, because the investigation has not reached that stage), you can contact the police quoting the crime number they initially gave you. The police may then be able to give you the information or contact the Fiscal’s office on your behalf.

Can I sit in the court?
Any member of the public can sit in the public gallery at the back of the courtroom and listen to the evidence, unless they are a witness and haven’t given their own evidence.

The court may be closed to members of the public when a child or victim of an alleged sexual offence is giving their evidence, or if, for example, there is a known risk of witness intimidation or if the witness is likely to find giving evidence particularly distressing.