Kuwait Court of Cassation principle number 678

The court may hear a witness under fourteen years of age for guidance, without an oath, whenever it finds this useful. Article 166 of the Criminal Procedure and Trials Law. - Statements of young witnesses. They are not considered testimony. They are elements of inference assessed by the court according to its conviction. It may rely on them whenever it perceives truth in what it understands from them and their consistency with the truth it has reached. Its implication: rejection of all considerations intended to induce it not to rely on them. - The trial court's confidence in the statements of the child victims, as to whom no plea was raised that - 263 - Criminal Procedure and Trials any of them lacked discernment, and its reliance upon them in conviction. Argument about this before the Court of Cassation. Impermissible