Have you ever attended Court Proceedings before?

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I have never once attended a court hearing before but today I drew on personal experience from a court hearing that involved my parents long overdue suit against a bank which has swindled them of their hard earned savings. They have put their trust in a bank by keeping their money in the hope of earning interests and safe keeping. My mother was the key witness in this suit as my dad has passed away 3 years ago. All my siblings came along as early as 7 am though the hearing was only scheduled to start at 9.00 am to give moral support to our mother who has never testified in any court hearings before. My mother's lawyer came personally to fetch her as he wanted to give her final briefings. I accompanied her in the lawyer's car. We were the early birds as we arrived in the High Court before the others and we took our seat in the specially allocated seat for witnesses while waiting for the other siblings to arrive. The atmosphere is so much different from the un-behavioral world outside. The entrance is guarded by two security guards and everyone is expected to be properly attired. One by one lawyers in their official court dress start arriving carrying with them their big black bags loaded with legal documents and took their own seats in the pew. Minutes before the proceedings started the High Court Judge walk in and an announcement was made to ask everyone to stand up. As a mark of respect to him everyone bowed their heads down. There were few cases heard this morning and my mother's case was the last to be called as they were 12 witnesses produced by the defendants. My mum was called to the witness stand and was cross examined by the defense lawyers. Being 75 years old she has a bit of hard hearing but the court interpreter was at hand to translate the legal jargon that she is unfamiliar with. The hearings were conducted in English. Lawyers are cunning fox as they can twist and turn their questions just to confuse the witness but luckily my mum did not flatter under such heavy and confusing cross examinations. When she was unsure of the answer, she would reply 'refer to my sworn statements. Her answer was taken as recorded. I must give credit to her for a job well done as she did not panic and her every replies were done in a very professional and acceptable way. The final judgment will only be known in a month's time and I pray that she'll win over the case as it has been 10 years before this hearing came up.