Take an Oath

I went to 神戸簡易裁判所 yesterday for my car accident occurred in August of 2015.
I arrived early there to briefly discuss 尋問内容with my attorney.
As we skimmed through 尋問内容, I was pretty much confident about how the accident occurred so I was not that nervous.
The only thing I was concerned was what the other party’s attorney would ask.
However, since we had no idea on that, my attorney told me to take it easy and just be myself.
The court trial was scheduled at 13:30 and we went in to one of the rooms on the second floor 10 minutes before.
The room had two doors. We entered from the left and other party showed up from the right. There were a judge in a black uniform in front of the room and a 陪審員 in his left.
There was also like a 書記 before the judge.
We sat on the seats outside of the space of the room.
The 書記 brought me a form to write my name, address, and DOB, and to sign my name and put my 印鑑 in the next page.
After that, both attorneys were told to open the gates, get inside of the space of the room and to be seated.
It was a few minutes before the time but the judge say, “Since everyone is here, shall we start early?”
I was 原告 so I was the first to get into the enclosed area of the room after the attorneys.
There was a stand with a mic in the center of the space, and a few meters away there was the 書記 facing me with a video cam and judge and the 陪審員 behind the 書記.
To my left was my attorney and right was other’s.
The 書記 approached me while I was up at the stand and asked me to state my name, DOB and take an oath as written on the sheet he brought.
I take a breath and read it clearly.
A moment later, the judge said, “If you give us a false statement intentionally, that will be considered a crime. Do you understand?”
I looked at him straight and nodded.
My attorney started with his 尋問 and I answered just like we reviewed before.
After my attorney, the other party’s attorney took his turn to ask me his 尋問.
Most of his 尋問 was based on the accident itself so it went OK.
But a few questions not related the accident such as 裁判に至るまでの手続き and 紛セ後の手続き sounded mean and irrelevant to the accident I thought.
I answered, “I am not sure … I am not familiar with those.”
I asked my attorney later the trial and he said it was his intention to make you humiliate in front of the judge but I did not need to worry too much because they were directly not related to the accident.
After the other party attorney’s 尋問, the judge said, “You should have your wallet in the secured place.” The judge thought as if searching a wallet while door was open would have been a part of this accident cause.
I almost replied, “But that lady should have paid attention while she was driving!”
I grasped my breath and nodded.
Next was the other party’s turn.
She went to the stand and took her oath. I could tell she was bit nervous because of her voice was a little bit raspy and sounded dry.
When my attorney asked when the accident occurred she answered wrong and even said she didn’t see me inside of my car.
Those answers brought the judge’s attention. He asked, “Did you say that the accident happened at 11am?” “Yes, because I was in a hurry to buy some 仏花. It was bit late, you know. I needed to get ready before お坊さん would come, ” said she.
“Did you see him inside of his car?” the judge continued.
“No… I never saw him,” she replied after some pause.
“Are you sure? You must have been very close to hit the door but you didn’t see him at all?”
“I mmm… I made sure before I went into the direction.”
“How was the door? Did you see the door open? When did you use break?”
“I didn’t see the door open… I used break after I hitting the door.”
“You should be aware of the doors when you in a parking lot because people just open their doors, right?” said the judge, asking her to go back to the seat.
It was clear that she failed to make a good impression on the judge.
The verdict will be delivered on the 5th of October.