Lawassist - The hearing - Making submissions

Please proceed, Sergeant. Your Honour... ANNA: Making submissions - that's the legal term for summing up your case to the magistrate. This happens after you've heard the police witness and questioned their version of events and then you've presented your own witness and any other evidence. The defendant in this matter, Ms Anna Duncan, has been... ANNA: As usual, the prosecution goes first. The prosecutor will cover the main points in their case. They will try to convince the magistrate that their witness - most likely the police officer - is a believable witness. (PROSECUTOR CONTINUES INDISTINCTLY) The prosecutor has to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt. Technically, I don't have to do anything, although it helps to present evidence that supports my case - evidence that gives the magistrate enough doubt to find me not guilty. Thank you, Sergeant. Ms Duncan, is there anything else you would like to tell the court? Yes, Your Honour. I knew I'd get nervous so I wrote down everything I wanted to say on a piece of paper so I wouldn't forget anything. Your Honour, the prosecution alleges I was driving whilst holding a mobile phone, yet the prosecution's only witness, the police officer who says he saw me with my hand to my hear, wrote down no details of the phone I was allegedly holding. The idea is to focus on the main points, stick to the facts and back up your argument by reminding the magistrate what your witness has said. Your Honour, the evidence of Miss Cheri Duncan, who was sitting in the front passenger seat of the car with me, confirmed that she did not see me holding a mobile phone while I was driving and nor did she hear me speaking on a phone. Your Honour, I was not holding a mobile phone whilst I was driving, but rather I was scratching my ear. I ask you to find me not guilty.