Die maatskaplike werker as tussenganger in strafverrigtinge

M.A.Social Work is a multifaceted profession. One of the many tasks that a social worker must perform is to give evidence in a court of law as an expert witness. The Criminal Procedure Act, Act 51 of 1977, has been amended in respect of the child as witness. This Act now also makes provision for a social worker to act as intermediary to facilitate in criminal procedures where children, being exposed to substantial trauma and stress, are witnesses. The courts have started to implement this amendment and social workers are being requested to act as intermediaries in criminal proceedings. The social workers at the Child and Family Welfare Society Kempton Park, amongst others, were requested on several occasions to act as intermediaries without knowledge of the task to be performed. Due to a lack of knowledge and resources only the necessary report was submitted to the court requesting the appointment of an intermediary. Probation officers from the Department of Welfare were then requested to appear in court as intermediaries as they had the necessary knowledge and training. This research attempts to highlight what a social worker as intermediary, in criminal proceedings where children are witnesses, should do. The researcher had a preference to the qualitative methodology, as it appeals to the researcher's practical nature and the nature of the issue to be investigated as it is basic-explorative in nature. The legal position of the sexually abused child as witness in criminal proceedings is assessed in order to determine the consequences from several points of view. Criticism and obstacles in this regard and the procedures of operation, as included in the Report from the Law Commission with specific reference to the social worker as intermediary, are highlighted