Court Attendance

[harrys13]

My wife has recently had a citation to come to court to be a witness for the prosecution has she called the police to a incident on a caravan park in Scotland, to which we are both managers the incident involved a man who was intoxicated and was being abusive to his wife and children, the police arrived, but took some persuading for the man to be removed from the campsite, they said they would only remove him if my wife gave a statement to which she did, other witnesses have given statements, it is now going to court in November, the problem is our current address which is on the campsite ceases at the end of October due our employment at this campsite terminating, my accommodation is tied into my employment. We will no longer have a place to stay in Scotland from this date.
We will be then residing in England from October then leave to Winter in Spain for the remainder of the year, to which we do every Winter, until our contract starts again the following year in another part of the country. This causing considerable inconvenience.
We have two questions:
Can my evidence be given without me being present ?
Can I withdraw my statement ?

[New Judge]

I'm not too familiar with some aspects of Scottish law, but I believe as far as trials go, their system is much the same as in England and Wales. If so:

(1) Only if the defence agrees to it. If they do your evidence will be "read" to the court. If they do not they have the right to have you attend court so that they can cross-examine you. If you fail to attend your evidence cannot be admitted.

(2) You cannot withdraw a statement. Once it's made, it's made; you cannot "unmake" it. You may make a retraction statement contradicting the facts you provided in your original statement. If you do you may still be called to give evidence and when in court you may be declared a "hostile witness" which means you can be cross-examined by the prosecution to explain the differences between your two statements.

[Jethro77]

I would strongly recommend that your wife urgently contacts the Procurator Fiscal`s Office to discus this matter. The contact details will be in the citation. There are procedures available to deal with such situations. If your wife does nothing and fails to appear at the Court then such may result in a warrant being granted for her apprehension.

[Peter Pedant]

two good and useful answers

I like Jethro - contact the court.

people moving around - you can t be the first to up sticks in between crime and court case

and funnily enough I am due in court today to say a tenant is a tenant,
because some trouble maker has sworn an oath he isnt ....
[ and so should be remanded in custody and not bailed to his address - this is a bit sporting, considering gaol costs us tax payers so much )