Judicial management in child abuse cases: Empowering judicial officers to be 'the boss of the court'

• Jurisdiction: South Africa
• Published date: 16 August 2019
• Date: 16 August 2019
• Pages: 41-55
• Author: Karen Müller
• Citation: (2005) 18 SACJ 41

Judicial management in child abuse

cases: Empowering judicial off‌i cers

to be ‘the boss of the court’*

KAREN MÜLLER** AND ANNETTE VAN DER MERWE***

ABSTRACT

It is the role of the judicial off‌icer to manage court proceedings. This role

assumes greater signif‌i cance when the witness is a child, as children are in a more

vulnerable position than adults due to their lack of maturity and developmental

limitations. Children have particular diff‌i culties with testifying in the courtroom.

These diff‌i culties include a lack of understanding of court proceedings, cognitive

disadvantages, lack of language specialisation as well as a general lack of

sophistication. Given these diff‌iculties, it is argued that judicial off‌i cers need to

take a more active role in court proceedings involving child witnesses. Possible

accommodations in the courtroom for assisting child witnesses are suggested.

It is submitted that ground rules should be introduced regarding the treatment

of child witnesses to facilitate their testimony. These rules should relate to the

manner in which questions are posed, ensuring that they are age-appropriate,

the use of scheduled breaks and the minimisation of postponements and delays.

Other accommodations would include a special welcome to child witnesses and

a few minutes of rapport-building to set them at ease, as well as age-appropriate

information to assist them to understand what their role in the courtroom is.

1 Introduction

Although the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977 and the rules of evidence

set out the procedures that have to be followed in court, it is the role

of the judicial off‌icer to manage these procedures.1 The judicial off‌i cer

has the inherent authority to make decisions about the manner in which

proceedings are conducted. These decisions must be obeyed by all parties,

who are liable to sanctions in the event of non-compliance.

‘All orders given in the judicial discretion of the presiding judge or other judicial

off‌i cer for the proper conduct of the trial must be obeyed by the parties, the

41

*The phrase 'the boss of the court' was used by a seven-year-old child involved in a research

project conducted by the authors to describe a magistrate's function in court.

**

BA (Hons) LLB PhD (Rhodes), Professor of Law and Director of the Unit for Child Witness

Research and Training, University of Port Elizabeth, Vista Campus.

***

BProc LLB LLM (Pretoria), Principal Lecturer in the Faculty of Law, University of

Pretoria.

1PM Bekker, T Geldenhuys, JJ Joubert, JP Swanepoel, SS Terblanche and SE van der Merwe

Criminal Procedure Handbook 6ed (2003) 186.

(2005) 18 SACJ 41

© Juta and Company (Pty) Ltd