What is the effect of a court's comment to a witness that the witness may incriminate herself?

First, there is no indication the witness, defendant's mother, was present in the courtroom at the time the court made the comment. Indeed, this exchange occurred during the financial evaluator's testimony and appears in the transcript six pages before defense counsel called defendant's mother as a witness. Even if the witness had been present, the court's comment cannot fairly be characterized as an effort to intimidate her. Rather, the court was expressing a concern that the witness might incriminate herself. (Cf. People v. Schroeder (1991) 227 Cal.App.3d 784, 788 ["when it appears that a witness may give self-incriminating testimony, the court has a duty to ensure that the witness is fully apprised of his or her Fifth Amendment rights"].) More importantly, the court's comments did not intimidate the witness since she testified at the hearing that she and defendant received rental revenue from sublessees, which exceeded the amount of rent due on the residence, and she and defendant used the excess rental revenue for bills. Defendant had not disclosed to the financial evaluator that he was receiving rental revenue from sublessees.