A High Wycombe school pupil is celebrating after winning an award for her role in a mock trial contest. 

Highcrest Academy student Zahara Akram says she was “overwhelmed and ecstatic” after winning a trophy for being best witness in a mock trial schools’ competition held at High Wycombe Magistrates’ Court in Easton Street.

Zahara, 12, played the role of a 20-year-old delivery driver giving evidence for the prosecution in the fictional case of a man accused of having a knife in a public place without reasonable excuse.

She spent two weeks memorising the script before stepping on to the witness stand at the court. 

Then she had to face up to tough cross-examination from a ‘defence lawyer’, played by a student from another school. 

Pupils from various schools played the magistrates who presided over the court.

But Zahara’s efforts were rewarded when she learnt that the prosecution had won the case, convicting the man, and that she had also won the prize for best witness in the competition held in March. 

The event was one of the two local Buckinghamshire heats held as part of the National School Mocks Trial Competition organised by Young Citizens and supported by the Magistrates’ Association and Her Majesty’s Courts Service.

Zahara, who is in Year 8 at Highcrest in Hatters Lane, was so taken by the experience that she is thinking of becoming a lawyer or magistrate when she grows up. She also said it helped improve her confidence.

She said: “Before this event, I wasn’t open to speaking out loud but when I went on the stand I felt confident and I wasn’t afraid – and I really enjoyed it and learnt a lot about how the court works.

“I was surprised to win best witness – I think I was ecstatic and my friends on either side were screaming they knew I would win. 

“It was overwhelming – I couldn’t hear anything for five minutes afterwards because they shouted so loud when I won.”