Students get insights into court hearings

SINGAPORE - A mock court hearing - complete with judge, prosecutor and loan shark runner "in the dock" - was the unusual scene which made its way to almost 30 schools over the past two weeks.

This was the highlight of visits by prosecutors from the Attorney-General's Chambers under its first Schools Outreach Programme, which will finish on Wednesday.

Ahmad Ibrahim Secondary student Benjamin Wong, 15, found the programme "eye- opening".

"I didn't know that there were deputies and assistants to help him (the public prosecutor) with the job," he said.

Students were also given the low-down on common youth offences.

Criminal misappropriation is different from theft, for example, because it might involve an offender finding a smartphone in an empty school field and keeping it for himself.

This was one offence introduced to students by Deputy Public Prosecutor Jasmine Chin-Sabado. The 32-year-old said: "The programme gives us the opportunity to present to the youth an accurate representation of our work."

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