Notice to attend court
- committal hearing
- pre-recording of evidence (for children and special witnesses)
- trial.
If you're a victim, your victim liaison officer (VLO) will keep you updated on court events and whether you need to give evidence. If you're a witness, the arresting police officer or our legal officer will let you know if you’re required.
Receiving a subpoena
If you're required to attend court to give evidence, and/or provide documents, the police will serve you with a an official court document called a subpoena.
A subpoena can be delivered in several ways:
- hand-delivered usually by police
- emailed to your last known address with receipt requested
- sent by certified mail to your last known address.
Your subpoena will list either a specific date, or a timeframe during which you must be available to attend court. The arresting police officer or victim liaison officer (VLO) or legal officer will contact you closer to the time to confirm the exact date(s) you’ll need to attend.
If you're employed, inform your employer as soon as you receive the subpoena. Your employer is legally required to allow you time off to attend court.
If you’ve received a court order or subpoena to attend court, you must go. If you do not comply with the subpoena, a judge or magistrate can issue a warrant for your arrest. If there’s a lawful reason preventing you from attending, you must notify the arresting police officer, VLO, or legal officer as soon as possible.
Attending court as a witness
Witnesses must attend court in person. In some cases, witnesses may give evidence via video link, but this is at the court’s discretion. If you would like to request a video link you should discuss this with the arresting police officer, VLO, or legal officer. If appropriate, the we can apply to the court on your behalf. Special measures will be put in place for child affected witnesses and vulnerable witnesses. Read more about special witness measures.
Trial listing
The listing number shows the order of trials scheduled for that day. If you're listed as #2, another trial (#1) is scheduled to start before yours. Your trial will begin only after the #1 trial finishes. This is the reason you receive a date range for your listing. You will only need to attend while giving your evidence.
In some cases trials may be delayed or re-listed at last minute.
More information
We will help you to prepare to give evidence so that you know what to expect and feel comfortable.