On Wednesday 20th March, 12 students along with Mr Forster and Mr Hammonds travelled to Bass High School for the ‘trial round’ of the Law Society of New South Wales’ Mock Trial competition. As we were the defence in a criminal case our team was composed of a 1st Barrister (Cindy Nguyen), 2nd Barrister (Isabella Luchko), Solicitor (Noah D’Cunha), Defendant (Abigail Saichithtun), a Witness (Timothy Cho) and a Court officer (Tori Oreshkin).
Cindy and Isabella did a remarkable job giving clear statements to the Magistrate, whilst also questioning our witnesses and cross-examining the opposition’s witnesses with humble authority. Of course, both the barristers could not have done such a remarkable job without the help of their Solicitor, Noah, who had the job of giving advice and possible questions for them to use when cross-examining the crown’s witnesses. Both Tim and Abigail were able to keep a level head whilst under constant intimidation from the prosecution’s barristers. Tori also did exceptionally well with helping with administrative aspects of the case such as calling witnesses, swearing in witnesses, time keeping and showing documents to the Magistrate.
The day was a very memorable occasion for two reasons. The 1st being the team was able to pull out with a win by just 6 points, and the defendant was proven innocent. This was particularly remarkable given it was the first time any of the students in our team had performed in a Mock Trial. Our team was also comprised of entirely Year 10 students, whereas our opposition were all Year 11 students. The other memorable aspect of the day was that Bass Hill High School was put into lockdown during the Mock Trial. Both reasons will surely make this a very special day in the hearts of all our students who participated in the ‘trial round’ of the 2019 Mock Trial competition.
Jared Simion (Yr 10 student)
