Witness

I AM A WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION…

…because I know about a fact that could lead to finding the accused guilty. One night, I saw him enter by the window of an electronics store and come out with several boxes. The Crown prosecutor asked me to come and testify. He read the statement that I made to the police and decided that my testimony would be very useful to his case. The prosecutor even told me I would be his most important witness because I was the only person who could correctly identify the accused. In this case, my role was more essential even than that of the victim, the store owner, because he was not there at the time of the theft. When my turn came to testify, I answered the Crown prosecutor’s questions as well as I could. Afterward, the lawyer for the accused had the chance to ask me questions in his cross-examination. This was not an easy experience because he tried to discredit me by looking for contradictions in my testimony. Still, I did not let myself get distracted and I kept to my version of the facts, telling nothing but the truth.

I AM THE VICTIM…

…because I had the misfortune of being the target of a criminal act. I was sexually assaulted by my boss. I made a complaint to the police and he was eventually accused of sexual assault. I was one of the witnesses for the prosecution because my testimony could help convict the accused. When I testified at the trial, the Crown prosecutor invited me explain what happened to me. Telling my “story” in front of my boss was really difficult. But I didn’t want this to happen to another woman, so I found the courage to come and testify. The defence lawyer asked several questions to try to prove to the court that it was possible that I had invented the whole story…but it didn’t work! The accused was found guilty. And as for me, I did all that I had to do.

I AM THE EXPERT WITNESS…

…and I was called before the court to give my opinion on a subject that requires particular knowledge and experience. I am a specialist in fingerprint identification. Unlike other witnesses at the trial who can only come and report the facts as they witnessed them, we expert witnesses can give our opinion on various elements of the case. In my career, I have been a witness in several trials, as many times for the Crown as for the defence. Recently, I had to give my opinion in a murder case where other expert witnesses were heard: a forensic scientist, a psychologist and a chemist. Our testimony allowed the jury to better understand different elements related to the victim, the crime scene and the personality of the accused. For my part, my expertise in fingerprints allowed me to determine that it was really the accused who entered the victim’s home on the night of the murder.

I AM A DEFENCE WITNESS…

…because I knew about a fact that could help acquit the accused. The defence lawyer sent me a “subpoena” so that I would testify to support the alibi defence of his client. I told the jury that at the time that it was committed, the accused was peacefully playing cards with me, so it would have been impossible for him to have commited the crime alleged against him. Since there was an error about the person involved, my testimony made it possible to prevent a serious injustice from being committed: I kept an innocent person from being convicted.

Now each of us has told you about our experiences as witnesses. Even if our roles differ, our testimony in each case is an important piece of evidence that could help bring out the truth and allow justice to be done.