Introduction
Welcome to Victim Support NI’s Interactive Courtroom pages, which are designed to take some of the mystery away from attending court as a prosecution witness.
These 360 degree interactive tours allow you to see into courtrooms across Northern Ireland. Examples of courtrooms from each criminal court in Northern Ireland can be viewed using the tour above. Using the menu on the left hand side, you can select which courthouse you would like to visit. You can then select which courtroom you wish to see.
How to Use The Tour:
You can move your view left or right in a 360 degree field using your mouse, or the left and right arrow buttons on your keyboard. This will allow you to look around as if you were standing in one spot and turning your head. In order to move around the courtroom, you can use the arrows on the tour to move around the room. You can zoom in or out using the scroll button on your mouse, and can also look up and down using your mouse or the up and down arrow keys.
The tours are interactive, and contain information about different areas of the courtroom in blue information ‘hotspots’. These may help you understand what you are looking at, and contain some information about what happens when you attend court as a witness. Just click on the hot spots to see this information about what you are viewing.
Pre-Trial Familiarisation Visits:
While these tours are intended to inform you about what the courts look like, they are not intended to replace our pre-trial familiarisation visits, which we offer to all witnesses attending court. At this pre-trial visit, you will be shown around by a Witness Service staff member or volunteer, and you can ask questions about what will happen when you attend court.
If you would like further information about any of the courts, or to book a pre-trial court familiarisation visit, you can contact Victim Support NI’s Witness Service at the following numbers:
Witness Service Antrim – 028 9448 8631
(for Antrim, Ballymena, Magherafelt courts)
Witness Service Belfast – 028 9023 2523
(for Laganside courts)
Witness Service Craigavon – 028 3834 3553
(for Craigavon, Armagh, Lisburn courts)
Witness Service Downpatrick – 028 4461 6233
(for Downpatrick, Newry, Newtownards courts)
Witness Service Dungannon – 028 8775 1550
(for Dungannon, Enniskillen, Omagh courts)
Witness Service Foyle – 028 7127 9440
(for Londonderry, Strabane, Limavady, Coleraine courts)
Magistrates Court
All courthouses in Northern Ireland have a magistrates’ court. These are presided over by District Judges, and many of the cases that come before these courts can be of a less serious nature, known as summary offences. Summary offences have a maximum prison sentence of 6 months, and a maximum fine penalty of £2000. Some more serious cases will have their preliminary hearings at a magistrates’ court. There is no jury at a magistrates’ court as the judge’s decision is final.
Crown Court
Most serious offences are heard at Crown courts. These are presided over by a judge, and are usually decided by a jury made up of up to 12 members of the public. The jury makes the decision about whether the defendant is found guilty or not guilty of the offence, based on the evidence presented to the court. The judge will then follow strict sentencing guidelines to pass down a sentence if the defendant is found guilty.
Live Link Rooms
Some witnesses are granted ‘special measures’ which may include giving evidence via a video link to the court. This means that a vulnerable witness does not need to sit in the courtroom. Live link rooms are the rooms which house the video link. These are sometimes situated elsewhere in the courthouse, or may be housed in a different building. You can view examples of live link rooms using the Interactive Tour menu above at Laganside, Derry and Newry courts.