Trial witness needs some advice please.

Spanish Eyes

Hi hope this is the right place.

Anyway, I was a witness to a crime. Guards took a statement and I managed to be able to give a lot of information.

There may be a court case next year. I am partially deaf, that worries me as I may not be able to hear everything asked of me in the witness box. It is actually making me a bit anxious TBH.

I do not use signing. I can hear great on the phone and with headphones but in company and with any background noise I struggle. I am wondering if there is anything the courts will do to assist my inability to hear proceedings properly?

I have been excused from Jury Service with medical evidence because of my hearing loss.

I will contact the Courts Service in the New Year just in case. But wonder about it. Thanks

Victor

Mention it before the case to the garda that you are dealing with.

wench

You could contact the accessibility officer here, to see what accommodations can be made.
http://www.courts.ie/Courts.ie/Library3.nsf/pagecurrent/1C65B6A925A43A4A80257FB8004AEFDB?opendocument

I was on jury duty in the new Central Courts building last year, and all the witnesses, barristers, judge etc all were speaking into microphones, so it was quite clear.
A couple of people asked the barristers to repeat the question, which wasn't an issue either.

Spanish Eyes

Thanks for the reassurance and the information. I actually phoned Courts Service earlier and they could not have been more helpful.

I have nerve damage in the ear and hearing aids do not work for me, so induction loop system won't work, as I thought!

Anyway, they very helpfully said that I should contact the Accessibility officer once the supbpoena arrives and I have a court date, and they would take me into an empty courtroom a week or two beforehand, and replicate the sound systems to see if that will suffice for me. They were so helpful and allayed a lot of my fears.

Kudos to the Courts Service!

randomrb

In fairness to the courts system I have always found them to be excellent with accessibility issues. If you can't hear a barristers question the judge will usually give out to them not you, however in the main they are very clear when speaking.