You should arrive at court at least 30 minutes early. This will give you time to go through security and find your courtroom.
If you think you are going to be late, you should ring the court registry and let them know. If you are not at court when your name is called, the Magistrate may decide your case without you.
You can find your courtroom on:
- the court lists at the courthouse
- the Search NSW Court and Tribunal Lists page on the NSW Online Registry.
For information about how to find your courtroom, you should watch the video below:
Once you have found your courtroom, you can take a seat in the public gallery, or, if the courtroom is full, you can wait outside. There are often many cases listed on the same day and you will have to wait until your name is called. You could be at court for just a few hours or most of the day, so you should make arrangements with your work or childcare if necessary.
If you wait outside, make sure you stay close enough to the courtroom to hear the court officer call your name. If you leave, or are not there when your name is called, your case can be decided without you.
The courtroom may be closed for morning tea (usually around 11:30am) and for lunch (usually from 1:00pm to 2:00pm). You will have to leave the courtroom during these breaks. You can check with the court officer or the registry what time the courtroom will reopen.
If you are female and applying for an Apprehended Domestic Violence Order (ADVO) you can wait in the safe room. Ask to speak to a worker at the Women's Domestic Violence Court Advocacy Service.
Before the hearing starts, or sometime during the hearing but before it finishes, the defendant might:
- consent (agree) to the AVO without admissions
- offer undertakings (formal promise)
- ask to collect their belongings from your home.
If the defendant consents without admissions, they are agreeing to the terms of the AVO without they have done anything wrong. If the defendant consents, a Final AVO will be made and there will be no need to go ahead with the hearing.
If the defendant offers to provide an undertaking, they are agreeing not to do the things listed in the AVO. The terms of the undertakings are put in writing and placed on the court file. Before you accept any undertakings, you should get legal advice. Undertakings can't be enforced. If the defendant breaches an undertaking, they won’t face any legal consequences.
Before entering the courtroom:
- remove your hat and sunglasses from your head
- stop eating or drinking
- turn your mobile phone off or put it on silent.
Once your case is called, you should sit at the bar table at the front of the courtroom. Get out your papers and arrange them so you can find things when you need them during the hearing. Only put items on the table that you need. Don't leave your bags on the bar table.
AVO hearings in the Local Court are held before a Magistrate.
You should:
- refer to the Magistrate as 'Your Honour'
- stand and bow when the Magistrate enters or leaves the courtroom
- stand up when speaking to the Magistrate
- always be polite to the Magistrate, other court staff and the other party
- refer to the other party or their lawyer as Mr/Ms and their surname.
The Magistrate will usually ask the applicant to present their case first. This will either be the police if they made the application on your behalf, or you if you made the application.
If you are representing yourself, the Magistrate may allow you time to:
- outline your case
- point out evidence that supports your case
- tell the Magistrate which witnesses you will call
- point out any parts of the other party's witness statements (if any) and evidence that you disagree with or dispute.
If the Magistrate doesn't allow you time to do this, they will simply direct you to enter the witness box and start with your evidence.
When you give evidence, or when the Domestic Violence Evidence in Chief (DVEC) recording is played, the Court must be closed and everyone not involved in the case will have to leave the courtroom.
You may also be able to give evidence in other ways such as by audio visual link (AVL) or from another room.
You are entitled to have a support person present when you are giving evidence. This can be a friend or family member, a volunteer from a support service, a professional counsellor, or another person. It can’t be someone who is going to give evidence in your case.
Oath or affirmation
You may have to stand next to the witness box and make an:
- oath (religious promise), or
- affirmation (non-religious oath).
Both are promises to tell the truth.
The court officer will read the oath or affirmation and you should respond 'I do'.
Evidence in chief
Your evidence is called evidence in chief.
Police can take your victim statement by video or audio recording and use this recording as all or part of your evidence in chief. This recording is called the Domestic Violence Evidence in Chief (DVEC) recording.
If the police use the DVEC as your evidence in chief, they don’t need to get your consent (permission) to play the recording at court.
Cross-examination
If the defendant is represented, the defendant's lawyer will cross-examine you.
If the defendant is self-represented, they are not allowed to directly ask you questions, regardless of how you give evidence. The Magistrate will appoint a suitable person to ask the questions on behalf of the Defendant. This might be someone from the court staff or a Justice of the Peace. The person is known as a Court Appointed Questioner.
During cross-examination, you should:
- listen carefully and think about each question before you answer
- ask that a question be repeated if you don't understand it
- admit if you don't know the answer to a question
- speak loudly, clearly and slowly
- give exact details, for example if the person swore tell the Magistrate the words that were used
- try not to get angry, even if the defendant's solicitor seems to be rude or aggressive
- ask for a break if you get upset.
Re-examination
If there are any issues you want to clear up that are raised in the cross-examination you may be able to give further evidence later. This is called re-examination.
You may get a chance to tell the Magistrate your version of what has happened, and why you believe you need the AVO, but only if the Magistrate gives you leave (permission).
You can only give evidence about what you saw or what was said to you directly. The Magistrate may ask you questions or ask you to explain some things in more detail. The Magistrate may also ask you to move on to another point if they feel you have said enough about a certain issue or you are speaking about something that is not relevant to the case.
Although your witnesses may have prepared witness statements before the hearing, those witnesses will still have to come to court so that the defendant can cross-examine them.
A court officer will bring your witness into the courtroom and take them to the witness box where they will make an oath or affirmation.
After the cross-examination, you may have a chance to ask the witnesses any further questions. This is called 're-examination'. You should only re-examine your witness if you want to clear up issues raised in the cross-examination.
After you have finished presenting your evidence, the defendant will give evidence and may call witnesses to give evidence. You will be able to cross-examine the defendant and their witnesses.
If the police applied for the AVO on your behalf, the police prosecutor will cross-examine the defendant and their witnesses.
Tip sheet: Cross-examination (protected person) (PDF, 110 kb)
Sometimes you or the defendant may need to ask the Magistrate to adjourn (postpone) the hearing to another date.
If the defendant doesn't go to the hearing, the Magistrate may:
- adjourn the hearing, or
- run the hearing without the defendant there.
If you don't go to the hearing, and you have not asked for an adjournment, the Magistrate may:
- adjourn the hearing, or
- dismiss your application.
The Magistrate may not agree to an adjournment unless there is a good reason. There may be an adjournment if either you or the defendant, or an important witness, has a good reason for not being able to make it to the hearing.
If the Magistrate does agree to an adjournment, they will often make a costs order against the party who needed the adjournment.
For more information, see Costs in AVO cases (protected person).
Sometimes, when there is a lot of evidence or are many witnesses, the Magistrate won't be able to finish the hearing in one day. If this happens, the Magistrate will have to adjourn the hearing until the rest of the evidence can be heard. Depending on the next available hearing date, the adjournment may be for a few weeks or for a few months.
The Magistrate will give you and the defendant instructions on when to come back to court and who should come to court on that day. In some cases, your witnesses and the defendant's witnesses will all have to come back to court for the rest of the hearing.
If the hearing is adjourned, you can ask the Magistrate to make an Interim AVO to protect you until the day of the hearing.
If the Magistrate has heard all the evidence, it may make a decision.
After hearing the evidence, the Magistrate will either:
- make a Final AVO, or
- dismiss the application.
The Magistrate will often give their decision straight away, or after a short break. Sometimes, the Magistrate will reserve their decision and give it at a later date. The Court will contact you when the decision has been made.
The Magistrate will give reasons for their decision.
If the Magistrate makes an AVO, the defendant must follow the orders in the AVO while it is in force. If they don’t, they may be charged with a criminal offence.
If the Magistrate dismisses your application, no AVO will be made. Any provisional or interim AVOs that the Magistrate had made to protect you will no longer be in force.
For more information, see The decision (protected person).
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