A court case ended recently with the defendant feeling that she did not get any justice from the court.

According to the defendant, she was shocked and surprised when the judge who tried the case in the Resident Magistrate's Court told her that she was not entitled to ask her own witness any question.

"When I went to court I told the judge that I did not owe the money for which I was being sued," the woman who was the defendant explained.

"The trial proceeded and during the trial I told the judge I had a witness. The judge gave me time to get the witness.

"The witness turned up and went into the witness box. The judge questioned the witness as to her name, where she lived and asked her if she knew me.

"The witness said yes. The judge asked her a few questions but when I said I wanted to ask my witness some questions in order to help me to prove my case, the judge said because it was my witness I was not allowed to question my witness. The judge even remarked, 'I am the judge, it is my court and I ask the questions'.

"I pleaded with the judge to allow me to ask my witness questions that were vital to my case, but up to the time when the witness left the witness, box I was not allowed to say one word to my witness.

"After the judge questioned the witness, the representative for the claimant who took me to court was allowed to ask the witness questions.

"Is this the correct court procedure that I cannot even say a word to my own witness?"

One of the functions of the judge is to assist a litigant who does not have a lawyer. You had the legal right to ask your witness questions which were relevant to your case, and the Resident Magistrate should have allowed you to do so.

It is open to you to file an appeal against the judge's ruling on the basis that your rights to a fair trial were breached because you were denied the opportunity to examine your witness.

The judge asked her a few questions but when I said I wanted to ask my witness some questions in order to help me to prove my case, the judge said because it was my witness I was not allowed to question my witness.

The judge even remarked "I am the judge, it is my court and I ask the questions".