What will happen at my final hearing or trial?

• A hearing or trial is when the court puts aside time to listen to the evidence and decide whether you should be convicted of the charges.
• Most of the evidence is given orally in court. Police must provide you with written statements from each witness well before the hearing so that you know what each witness is going to say.
• You will be given a chance to read all the statements from the witnesses and then give your lawyer instructions or your side of the story.
• At the hearing your lawyer will be able to ask witnesses questions about what they have said and what they wrote in their statements. This is called cross-examination.
• Electronic evidence such as CCTV or a record of interview will be played in court.
• The court will listen and record all the evidence of the accused, all the witnesses in the case and the submissions that are made by the lawyers.
• After hearing all the evidence and submissions the magistrate or the jury will decide whether you are guilty or not guilty of the charge.