Statutêre assessering van kinderslagoffers van kriminele seksuele gedrag: 'n Gestaltterapeutiese riglyn

Abstract

As a source of information the court needs to be convinced of the witness's credibility and the ability to recall and communicate the truth regarding the Incident. Mostly the court uses the expertise of an expert witness to assist it in making a decision regarding the way in which a child needs to testify in court. Experts in this field are challenged to align the legal requirements with those of their field of expertise. In this research the Gestalt therapeutic approach is used to design an assessment guideline to assist experts to assess the ability of child victims of sexual crimes to testify in court. The Gestalt therapeutic approach focuses on the present (here and now) and has the ability to obtain access to the information present in the child's life. In the proposed assessment guideline certain Gestalt play therapy methods are recommended to assist the expert to assessing the child victim of a sexual crime.