Abstract
In South Africa, the admissibility of a child‟s evidence in criminal cases is hampered by inappropriate and inconsistent procedures used to determine the child‟s competency to testify in court. When a child is not deemed competent to testify as a result of the current prequalifying procedures, it presents a real problem for these victims of abuse, which requires professional intervention. Thomas Lyon, renowned legal professional and psychologist has spent years researching the child witness and the associated competence of taking the oath. He states that psychologists ought to provide clear guidelines to courts on appropriate ways to assess the competency of the child witness (Wescott, Davies & Bull, 2002). While the assessment of child-witness competency is widely practiced by psychologists in South Africa, there is no standard framework that guides this assessment so uniform procedures do not exist...
D.Ed. (Educational Psychology)