Class of students appear in Kildare court

A group of about 14 teenagers from a local school appeared en masse at Naas District  Court yesterday.

The group were neither defendants nor witnesses.

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Neither did they have a direct involvement in any of the cases listed to be dealt with at the regular court sitting.

The Transition Year students were there to get a taste of the workings of a court.

They were accompanied  by a teacher and welcomed by Judge Desmond Zaidan, who generally takes an interest in visitors like these to his court.

Encouraging the group to ask questions about court proceedings, he was asked by one about a fatal road accident case that occurred locally and is going through the court system. This case is likely to be dealt with in time by a higher court.

As it happened, the teen who died was a friend of the lad who asked the question.

Another student asked about the worst case he had heard and the judge replied that any hearings that arise from a premature death are the most difficult - and even more so if the fatality was not accidental - but as a consequence of assault or violence.

Judge Zaidan said all such cases which arise within County Kildare and parts of west Wicklow come before him initially, before moving to another court setting.

Very few, if any, of the group expressed an interest in becoming lawyers in the future.

That may have disappointed the judge. If so, the feeling was probably eased by the discovery of two fellow travellers.

“Are any of you Liverpool supporters ?” he asked. The judge is an enthusiastic (is there another kind ?) Liverpool fan.

Two students indicated they were and he gave them the thumbs-up in acknowledgement.