We left our phones at a real estate agent down the road, headed to security and promptly got rejected for having other electronic devices (power banks, my fitness watch...) So we went back to add more things to the checked items, even our headphones!
The second time we got in, however we were told that because it was August it was relatively quiet. The first floor (there are 4 courts on each floor) there were no courts in session, so we went up to the next floor and sat in Court 8, where they were getting ready to start a trial. However, we had barely sat down when we had to stand up for the judge to leave as they had adjourned for about 40 minutes. We went outside and up another floor, where there were two courts in session, but the public galleries were full! We waited, but nobody was leaving so nobody could go in. We ended up back downstairs in Court 8 at 11am.
It was a trial of Gary Walker, who was accused of making threats to kill and assault by beating his stepfather. Essentially it seemed to be a tenancy dispute over who got to live in Walker's mother's house after her death. It was an interesting snapshot of the case - they swore in the jury, gave opening prosecution argument, had the first witness (the stepfather, who gave evidence from behind a curtain), cross examined, re examined, then sent the witness and jury away. At this point the defence barrister asked about prejudice, as the witness had said things that implied the defendant had been in jail before. He had, but that was still not to be mentioned as it was 10 years previous and not relevant. So they decided they couldnt get past that prejudice, then they called the jury back in and dismissed them! They warned the witness about what had happened and not to do it with the next jury. Then they stopped for the day around 2:30.
After that we went back upstairs, where we got into one of the two courts running (I think it was Court 12), where they were questioning the defendant in a murder case. Interestingly, he didn't seem to speak English, so he had an interpreter in the box with him. It looked hard for the barristers as they had to ask their complex questions in different ways and in multiple parts. The jury in this case had booklets with photos of evidence and locations which they kept referring to and which we were trying to see from up in the gallery! After a bunch of questions, the barrister said he was going to ask questions about written testimony, and they broke for the day at 4:20.
I don't know the results of the trials we watched, only that the first is finished and finished on Tuesday, and I believe that the second is still running.
Jess and I are going back next week, we enjoyed it so much. Such a great insight into the legal system for anyone interested... Just be warned, there is quite a lot of downtime. It is exciting, just kind of in slow motion. Well worth it though!
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