Child Witnesses in Criminal Proceedings

The Case
Sykes has been charged with a sexual assault against V, the daughter of his girlfriend with whom he lives. Sykes is not V’s father. V is three years old, and she made the allegations about what had happened to her, to her grandmother, 2 weeks ago. The grandmother reported the allegations to the police, V was removed from the family and has been placed in foster care. She is due to be interviewed by the police regarding the offence within the following week.

Sykes’ trial for this offence will be delayed because he is currently being prosecuted for other serious sexual offences. The trial for the sexual assault against V has been scheduled in 12 months time.

Task
Write a 2200-2500 word report, detailing the following:

How the interview with V should be conducted, including who should be present and what sort of questions should be asked about the allegations, and the recording of the procedure.
Whether V can be called as a witness in the forthcoming trial and the procedure that should be followed both pre-trial and at the trial for questioning V about the allegations in order to protect her.
How to ensure that Sykes gets a fair trial when the evidence against him is from such a young witness, and because of the delay between the allegations being made and the time of the trial.

Juvenile Corrections