Ms Maria McDonald:

I spoke to a very senior High Court judge on the issue of delays and she drew attention to cases where the trial date is set and the victim believes the case will go on for two weeks or so but the prosecution and the defence come in at the last minute and, suddenly, it does not happen. Both the prosecution and the defence would have known in advance that it would not happen but the victim is only told at the last minute. During the past week I became aware of a case where people travelled from abroad for a case which was delayed. There should be guidelines and something in legislation to ensure pre-trial procedures are completed well in advance. There should be a pre-trial hearing two months in advance to ascertain whether or not a case will or will not happen.