Abstract
Realising that children suffer severe mental stress when giving evidence in the presence of an accused, the South African Law Commission in 1989 conducted an investigation into the giving of evidence by child witnesses in an open court and came to the conclusion that children were traumatized by the criminal procedure. In an attempt to remove the direct confrontation between the child and the accused, the Commission recommended that children be allowed to testify in a special room via an intermediary. This proposal gave rise to the introduction of the function of an intermediary with the insertion of section 170A(1) into the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977.
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