Year 11 Mock Trial

The Fort Street Mock Trial team made up of Year 11 students faced off against Burwood Girls on Monday 23 June where they played the prosecution in a criminal case about larceny (theft) of $2,000 from an ATM. The case involved a withdrawal of $100 where CCTV footage showed a much higher amount being withdrawn and not returned to the bank. It centred on whether the accused had the intention of keeping the extra money and whether the amount was exactly $2,000 as stated in the charge.

Our first barrister Amy aggressively objected to inadmissible evidence and effectively argued her case while also getting the accused to admit that they had lied. Our second barrister Chinmay made an effective yet succinct closing argument where he summed up the facts and stated clear linkages to relevant legislation and case law, arguing that the accused knew they received more money than they were entitled to and made no attempt to return the money beyond leaving a voicemail before then spending the money on a trip to Perth. Witness Danny responded to a question of why anyone would spend 8 hours watching CCTV footage with “I am a police officer with 12 years experience, that’s my job”, effectively ending the defence legal team’s line of questioning.

Ultimately Burwood Girls came out ahead in both the case and the trial, having gone undefeated so far this year. Despite this, our team put in an exceptional performance and there’s a lot of very capable lawyers in waiting coming through the Fort.