On Thursday the 25th of April, the TY mock trials class went on a tour of the Criminal Courts of Justice where we will compete in a mock trials competition in May. The class went in two groups: one group went on the tour at 9am and the other group went on their tour at 1pm. We got shown around the Criminal Courts of Justice by a barrister and a retired solicitor. We went into an empty courtroom where everyone got to sit in different places in the courtroom for example at the judges chair, where the barristers, solicitors, jury and where the accused sit. After our tour, we went into one of the courtrooms and watched one of the ongoing trials. Both groups ended up going to the same trial. The trial was very interesting and we watched the cross-examination of the prosecution witnesses in an assault case. It was good to learn about how trials run before our competition. It was a very fun and educational day out to the Criminal Courts of Justice.
-Tabitha Mulligan, on behalf of the TY Mock Trials class
