Report on Courtroom Observation

This report provides an observation of a criminal case in a courtroom in Australia. It covers the contents of the case, technicalities involved, and personal observations. The report aims to share insights into the working of the legal procedure in practice.

Running Head: REPORT 0
[School]
[Course title]
REPORT ON COURTROOM
OBSERVATION
AUSTRALIA

REPORT 1
Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................... 2
Contents of the case.................................................................................................................................... 2
Technicalities in content............................................................................................................................. 3
Observation.................................................................................................................................................... 4
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................................... 4
Bibliography................................................................................................................................................... 5

REPORT 2
Introduction
A place which acts like a tribunal and is comprised up of a body of people i.e. the judges or
magistrates and deals with the civil or the criminal matters is called as court. It is very important
for the students who wants to peruse law as their career to attend the hearing of the court cases
very efficiently so to gather live information about the working of the legal procedure in practical
or while been practiced. So the main aim or the purpose behind the formation of this report is to
share my personal observation with the people at large. While proceeding through this report I
would step by step cover many points such as the contents of the given case, used technicality
within it, my personal observation regarding the legal personals and the environment of the
courtroom and then lastly will conclude the entire report by an ending note which will reflect
entire of my perspective. Observation is very essential to gain knowledge about the things
happening around us. So one must always be a good observer.
Contents of the case
It was 28th of August 2019 i.e. Wednesday, when I had a visit to the Bankstown local court for
observing a criminal case. Mohamoud Abdihashi was the defendant of the going on case
hearing and Michael Smith was the presiding officer i.e. the judge present there for hearing both
the parties i.e. plaintiff and defendant and deciding over their matters.
The defendant was charged with having committed robbery in a company, which is covered
under section 97 of the Crimes Act 1900 (Lanham et al., 2006). Where it was determined that if
a person present in company and uses a very dangerous or offensive weapon for stealing or
making an attempt for stealing something from the other person then he or she may be awarded
with the maximum imprisonment up to 20 years and other penalties could also be imposed over
him. Here the term company means commission of a crime with the help of others being teamed
up with the offender.
The nature of the case was the summary hearing which is that procedure where the summary of
an offence as well as some indictable offences are discussed (Quilter & McNamara, 2013).
Here in the hearing of the court hears the evidences of the police and also from the side of the
parties to reach a conclusion that whether the defendant are guilty or not, or whether the case
must be heard by this court only or must be passed to some other court for further jurisdiction
(Lee, 2009).
The accused here had pleaded to be not guilty of having been committed any offence. He had
that much courage to do so because he was been legally represented by the OXFORD
Lawyers. The OXFORD Lawyers are the ones who makes a devoted legal team for
representing their clients who are been facing all the types of allegation starting from the traffic
matters to the criminal offences which are very serious in nature (Kyriakakis, 2007). No case is
considered as small or big for these lawyers and they tend to attend the person immediately
from the very movement when he falls into the trouble and get exposures to the police matters

REPORT 3
for assisting and ensuring that person that they would take care of their legal rights and will
protect them from being getting exploited.
The facts of the case are as follows
It was around 1 am on 16th of June 2019 when a group of seven boys were arrested by the
police for having been committed the offence of bashing and stealing the personal goods which
also included a car of the people who were very innocent and were walking by their car.
Immediately police was been called and informed of the entire scenario. Troop of police entered
with a squad of dog.
Here Mohamoud also got arrested even though he was claiming that he was innocent and was
just standing around the place where this incident had occurred.
The main reason given by the police to arrest he was that he was found hanging around with
those people who had done this crime of stealing and was present exactly at the place on the
same time when the crime took place.
After hearing the case the court had decided to adjourn the case and gave them a different date
of hearing. All these could have been made possible because the police did not have sufficient
evidence to prove him guilty of committing an offence. Further the accused was also released
on bail upon certain conditions that he has to come up to the Bankstown police station every
day and sign the register till the next date of hearing and also he was prevented or disallowed to
hang up around those six other boys with whom he was been charged with.
Technicalities in content
In the court I saw the legal personnel such as the judge, the advocates, the OXFORD lawyers,
and the registrar. The judges are the most respected persons and holds the place of an empire
in the court which is the most important post, They are the ones who hear the case from both
the sides of the party, collect evidences from them and come up to a conclusion or decide the
result of the case that whether the person is held guilty or the case must be passed to the upper
court for the further jurisdiction.
Lawyers or the advocates are also known as the representatives of both the parties of the case
in the court. It is very difficult for a common person to have the knowledge of all the facts which
an advocate may have after completing his studies in law and being the professionals by
registering themselves in the bar councils. With their intelligence they guide the people and fight
for their rights and help them to secure their rights against the ones who may hamper them.
Registrars are the one who guides the parties with all the rules and regulations of the court and
also help them to show the correct path for getting justice in the court or else it would have even
become difficult for a person to even know that he must go to which courtroom for filing his
case.

REPORT 4
All the legal entities were dressed very in white shirts and black formal trousers with a black
jacket which was a certain different for both the advocates and the judge. They were very
decent in appearance and were very formal while talking to the judge and also with each other
when needed. The language used was complete legal in nature that it half of the things bounced
above my head while hearing the case.
Observation
I got to know many things which would have been difficult to understand just by reading millions
of books. Observing things personally seemed very different and exciting from the ones I had
always seen in the movies and read in the books.
Module 2.2 and 3 of NSW court had lend a helping hand in understanding the things better i.e.
regarding the jury system, different procedures held up in the court, and about many other
things of which I had never been came across.
Though I had faced certain difficulties in understanding the court’s language but my overall
experience was really very good and full up of thrills and new experiences which had completely
fulfilled my expectations of the visit there.
Conclusion
Observing things is very essential for a person to gather information and knowledge about the
things happening around us. Basically for the law students who are really confused for choosing
their career in this field are to attend the court sessions for gaining all the essential and relevant
information relating to the legal field.

REPORT 5
Bibliography
Kyriakakis, J., 2007. Australian prosecution of corporations for international crimes: the potential
of the Commonwealth Criminal Code. Journal of International Criminal Justice, 5(4), pp.809-26.
doi.org/10.1093/jicj/mqm047.
Lanham, D., Wood, D. & Bartal , B., 2006. Criminal Laws in Australia. Australia: Federation
Press. Available at: https://books.google.co.in/books?
id=D97doQ1iZx4C&dq=crimes+act+1900+australia&source=gbs_navlinks_s.
Lee, J., 2009. Conflicting views on court interpreting examined through surveys of legal
professionals and court interpreters. Interpreting, 1(35-56), p.11.
doi.org/10.1075/intp.11.1.04lee.
Quilter, J. & McNamara, L., 2013. Time to define the cornerstone of public order legislation: The
elements of offensive conduct and language under the Summary Offences Act 1988 (NSW).
UNSWLJ, 36, p.534. Available at: https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?
handle=hein.journals/swales36&div=26&id=&page=.