WHEN?
VIA offers a service to victims, witnesses and next of kin from the time a case is marked for proceedings through until the disposal of the case.
We will normally provide information following any key court hearings and when there is any other significant progress in a case. This includes decisions made regarding bail, verdicts and sentencing.
However, victims, witnesses and next of kin are encouraged to make informed choices about the information they wish to receive and the support they feel they need.
VIA will provide services pro-actively. This means there should be no need for victims, witnesses and next of kin to ask for help from VIA before we write to them with our local office details. They can then contact their named VIA Officer at any time.
If a victim, witness, or bereaved next of kin has not been contacted by VIA this is probably because:
the case is not in one of our categories (see
What? Section)
the incident the case involves happened outside the areas currently covered by VIA (see
Where? Section)
the case was reported to the Fiscal before VIA was offering a service in that area
The Procurator Fiscal involved with a particular case should be able to advise whether an individual should be receiving information and advice from VIA