5 year old witness

missjennipenni

My 5 year old cousin was teh only witness to a voilent crime. What will happen to him, and will he really have to give evidence? Surely it will be too traumatic for him? He has already spent hours today, being questioned at a police station

Does anyone have any experience of this, or knows what happens?

loobylou2

Just wanted to say I"m really sorry about what has happened to your cousin. I hope that he is ok and wasn't hurt or anything in the incident. It must have been terrifying for him. I don't know whether or not he would need to go to court etc but my understanding is that evidence can be given behind screens or by video link and I'm sure that the police etc will try and deal with the matter as sensitively as they can. They"ll be able to refer him and his family to counsellors and specialists who will
be able help and support them through what must be a nightmare. Poor kid. Am thinking of you all and hope things get sorted out really quickly for you and your family and that you are able to move on with your lives.

penguin83

How awful for him x

Hopefully he won't need to attend court but if he does there are special measures that are put in place for vulnerable witnesses.

See the link below for more info.

Vulnerable witnesses

positivelymummy

hi, i used to work for the witness service/victim support, http://www.victimsupport.org.uk/vs_england_wales/contacts/nats_home.php
this site may be useful to you, also i sent you a quick PM too.

missjennipenni

loobylou2 wrote: »

Just wanted to say I"m really sorry about what has happened to your cousin. I hope that he is ok and wasn't hurt or anything in the incident. It must have been terrifying for him. I don't know whether or not he would need to go to court etc but my understanding is that evidence can be given behind screens or by video link and I'm sure that the police etc will try and deal with the matter as sensitively as they can. They"ll be able to refer him and his family to counsellors and specialists who will
be able help and support them through what must be a nightmare. Poor kid. Am thinking of you all and hope things get sorted out really quickly for you and your family and that you are able to move on with your lives.

Thanks. Well, his Dad is the attacker, and his mum is unfortunately in hospital in intensive care, so i just want to help him as much as i can. He wasnt hurt, thankfully, but him & his younger brother & sisters all witnessed it

missjennipenni

penguin83 wrote: »

How awful for him x

Hopefully he won't need to attend court but if he does there are special measures that are put in place for vulnerable witnesses.

See the link below for more info.

Vulnerable witnesses

Thank you, will have a good read of that now

missjennipenni

positivelymummy wrote: »

hi, i used to work for the witness service/victim support, http://www.victimsupport.org.uk/vs_england_wales/contacts/nats_home.php
this site may be useful to you, also i sent you a quick PM too.

Thanks for the link, and thank you for your informative PM

Zebedee69

Aw god! thats realy rough for all of them. Im guessing that protecting the children and mother will be top priority now, I remember reading some of the Social Services reports when I worked there for a while.......... You just reminded me of some of the cases )-:

I think you'll probably be appointed to a social worker locally and I think there is some good councelling out there too.

Was it a one off or has their mother been a victim of domestic violence before?

HUGS!

missjennipenni

Zebedee69 wrote: »

Aw god! thats realy rough for all of them. Im guessing that protecting the children and mother will be top priority now, I remember reading some of the Social Services reports when I worked there for a while.......... You just reminded me of some of the cases )-:

I think you'll probably be appointed to a social worker locally and I think there is some good councelling out there too.

Was it a one off or has their mother been a victim of domestic violence before?

HUGS!

They have seen other (less serious) instances too, so i guess all 4 of the kids will neeed some therapy or counselling. I dont think theres an awful lot i can do for them, but so feel so utterly helpless.

ailuro2

You can tell them you'll always be there for them, no matter what happens.

Tell the mother the same, she sounds like she needs serious amounts of help too.