There have been considerable improvements to the support offered to victims and witnesses in Scotland's courts in the last ten years - not least the introduction of evidence via CCTV in some cases - but support groups and campaigners are still concerned that the needs and feelings of vulnerable people who have to give evidence in court are still not given the priority they deserve.
On the fact of it, the case of Mohammed Akram adds to this concern. Akram was acquitted last week after appealing a life sentence for indecently assaulting a four-year-old girl. The appeal judges watched two days of evidence given by the child via CCTV and ruled that by the second day, if not earlier, the child was incapable, in the words of Lord Eassie, of engaging meaningfully with the process of giving evidence.
In The Herald today, Joyce Plotnikoff, an adviser to the judiciary in England, says that Akram, who has spent time in prison for culpable homicide and a sex attack on a 16-year-old girl, said the issues would almost certainly not have been raised in this way south of the Border because of the use in English courts of intermediaries, who assess witness and advise the court on how they should be questioned.
There is no question that such intermediaries have worked well in England, although caution is needed in putting the acquittal of Akram entirely down to the lack of intermediaries in Scottish courts. The evidence of the child in the Akram case was a critical factor, but the appeal judges also said the trial judge had misdirected the jury on another matter, namely whether the DNA evidence supported the girl's story.
Even so, the issue of intermediaries is still an important one and Ms Plotnikoff's contribution to the debate is welcome. As she points out, intermediaries have been used for 10 years now in England and Wales and the scheme is working well.
Unfortunately, the opportunity to introduce a similar scheme, or at least a pilot, in Scotland would seem to have been missed as the Victims and Witnesses Bill, which has been passed in the last few days, contains no provision on the matter.
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill says the bill will put victims and witnesses at the heart of the justice system and there are some good provisions, such as the right of victims of sexual assaults to choose the gender of the police officer who interviews them. However, there are also serious questions about the practicality of the provision to make offenders pay towards the cost of supporting victims of crime, particularly as many of them will be unable, or unlikely to pay.
The lack of a provision for intermediaries looks like a missed opportunity. The Scottish Government says it will hold further dialogue with victims organisations and seek views on the matter and it is to be hoped that it is serious about that. The views of Ms Plotnikoff and victim groups are already clear - they think intermediaries are a good idea. The Scottish Government now needs to properly consider those views or explain why they are being rejected.
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