Witness

harr

Asking for a friend
Ok friend owns small shop and forecourt in west of Ireland,last year around his area a lot burglaries took place in some instances older people were assaulted. .. So after a few weeks a travelling gang were arrested in Wexford and a receipt from my friends shop was in the car, Guards asked if they could see and get a copy of cctv ..no problem friend was happy to help..
Long story short he has now being summons to appear as a witness in the case ...all he has to do is stand up in court and say he gave guards copy of cctv..even though they already have a statement he signed...
My friend runs shop himself 8 to 8 no other staff ...so now he has to close shop for two days next month as guard said the case will be heard over two full days he would have no idea when he would be called into court....

Anyway to get out of this it's a huge inconvenience ,both traveling and having to close his business...or if anyone has been through similar.
Thanks

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

brian_t

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Can you claim for 2 days loss of earnings from having to close his shop for the 2 days.

Is claiming your expenses from the Gards really that simple.

coylemj

harr wrote: »

My friend runs shop himself 8 to 8 no other staff ...so now he has to close shop for two days next month as guard said the case will be heard over two full days he would have no idea when he would be called into court....

Anyway to get out of this it's a huge inconvenience ,both traveling and having to close his business...or if anyone has been through similar.
Thanks

He should explain his situation to the Garda, it is possible for the prosecution to have him give evidence early on and then ask the judge to excuse him for the remainder of the trial with the agreement of the defence. This happens all the time with expert witnesses, especially medical people giving evidence about injuries - nobody expects them to hang around while all of the other witnesses give their evidence.

If your friend's 'evidence' is simply to say that he gave a CCTV recording to the Gardai, there isn't much scope that I can see for him to be recalled at a later stage for additional cross-examination so it should be possible for him to give his evidence and then go home.

The Garda needs to speak to the state solicitor or whoever is leading the prosecution.

harr

He can claim two days wages and travel up to a certain amount but he will have to close his business for two full days...all because he helped guards out.

Losty Dublin

harr wrote: »

He can claim two days wages and travel up to a certain amount but he will have to close his business for two full days...all because he helped guards out.

Does your friend not have staff to fill in? Surely to God they don't run the shop completely on their own, all day every day?

harr

coylemj wrote: »

He should explain his situation to the Garda, it is possible for the prosecution to have him give evidence early on and then ask the judge to excuse him for the remainder of the trial with the agreement of the defence. This happens all the time with expert witnesses, especially medical people giving evidence about injuries - nobody expects them to hang around while all of the other witnesses give their evidence.

If your friend's 'evidence' is simply to say that he gave a CCTV recording to the Gardai, there isn't much scope that I can see for him to be recalled at a later stage for additional cross-examination so it should be possible for him to give his evidence and then go home.

The Garda needs to speak to the state solicitor or whoever is leading the prosecution.

He has tried this but they are all insisting that he must give evidence at trial...even though it's not real evidence ...the solicitor for the guys on trial seems to want him to say he gave the guards the cctv ...maybe looking for a loophole? The guards are determined all is above board and he is there on the day..

harr

Losty Dublin wrote: »

Does your friend not have staff to fill in? Surely to God they don't run the shop completely on their own, all day every day?

He runs it 8-8 Monday- Friday himself....and his mother does a half day on a Saturday...closed on a Sunday...he does have a lad a few days a week during summer holidays but he does yard and forecourt only...so he would have no choice but to close up shop...

jimmii

I was in court as a witness not so long ago and after the case was sorted the judge asked if anyone has a loss of earnings due to being there and they were paid what they were out.

coylemj

harr wrote: »

He has tried this but they are all insisting that he must give evidence at trial...even though it's not real evidence ...the solicitor for the guys on trial seems to want him to say he gave the guards the cctv ...maybe looking for a loophole? The guards are determined all is above board and he is there on the day..

Go back and read my post, I never suggested that he not give evidence, what I said was that he could seek to be excused (from sitting there for the rest of the trial) after giving his evidence.

Now it would take some balls on your friend's part to do this if the Garda won't co-operate but I have seen it done though it's usually only people who appear in court a lot who do it ...... when he is finished giving his evidence and before he steps out of the witness box, he explains to the judge that he is a shopkeeper from a local town and the shop is closed because he has no staff and would the judge see his way to excusing him. What happens then is that the judge asks the prosecution and the defence if that is ok and typically they nod and off he goes.

The third option is to speak directly to the state solicitor on the day, he or she will be sitting directly behind the prosecuting barrister.

harr

coylemj wrote: »

Go back and read my post, I never suggested that he not give evidence, what I said was that he could seek to be excused (from sitting there for the rest of the trial) after giving his evidence.

Now it would take some balls on your friend's part to do this if the Garda won't co-operate but I have seen it done though it's usually only people who appear in court a lot who do it ...... when he is finished giving his evidence and before he steps out of the witness box, he explains to the judge that he is a shopkeeper from a local town and the shop is closed because he has no staff and would the judge see his way to excusing him. What happens then is that the judge asks the prosecution and the defence if that is ok and typically they nod and off he goes.

The third option is to speak directly to the state solicitor on the day, he or she will be sitting directly behind the prosecuting barrister.

The guard in my opinion is being a bit pissy about it and just told him to show up...he doesn't mind giving the evidence up he does not want to waiting around two full days ,no problem showing up first day do what he has to do and go home maybe a half day from work...all new to him he has never been inside a court house in his life..I will forward your advice onto him and thanks very much.