Residents of the Twin Towns and Surrounds will now enjoy more up to date and safe facilities at the Young Court House. This may mean either when they are before the courts, or in attendance, after the State Government allocated money towards the facility.
A $160,000 technology upgrade at Young Courthouse is improving safety and the efficiency of hearings and providing better facilities for vulnerable witnesses, Member for Cootamundra Katrina Hodgkinson and Attorney General Gabrielle Upton said today.
“For the first time, Young Courthouse has Audio Visual Link (AVL) which means detainees can appear from prison and evidence can be taken from interstate and overseas witnesses,” Katrina said.
“This state of the art technology will make a huge difference to the way proceedings are conducted, as prisoners will no longer need to be transported lengthy distances to Young for court matters that may only take a couple of minutes”.
Katrina attended Young Court today where Magistrate Peter Dare SC conducted the first AVL between Young Courthouse and Junee Correctional Centre.
“AVL will reduce the risk of escapes, cut delays caused by waiting for prisoners to physically arrive at court and free up police to do other frontline work.”
The courtroom in Young has a laptop computer for presenting evidence and a document camera capable of zooming in on exhibits and projecting them onto the large LCD screen, with minute detail improving forensic evidence.
The upgrade also includes improved technology for vulnerable witnesses to give “in camera” evidence from a private room.
“Children, sexual assault victims and other vulnerable witnesses now have a private and comfortable space from which they can testify – away from the stressful environment of the courtroom,” Katrina said.
Katrina thanked Attorney-General Gabrielle Upton for this important investment for Young Courthouse.
