South Australian Current Acts South Australian Current Acts (1) A person is
mentally incompetent to commit an offence if, at the time of the conduct
alleged to give rise to the offence, the person is suffering from a
mental impairment and, in consequence of the mental impairment—
(a) does
not know the nature and quality of the conduct; or
(b) does
not know that the conduct is wrong; that is, the person could not reason about
whether the conduct, as perceived by reasonable people, is wrong; or
Note—
Paragraph (b) adopts the test as stated and excludes from consideration
whether the defendant could reason with a moderate degree of sense and
composure as set out in R v Porter (1936) 55 CLR 182.
(c) is
totally unable to control the conduct.
(2) If, on an
investigation under this Division, a person is found to be mentally
incompetent to commit an offence and the trial judge is satisfied, on the
balance of probabilities, that the mental impairment at the time of the
conduct alleged to give rise to the offence was substantially caused by
self-induced intoxication (whether the intoxication occurred at the time of
the relevant conduct or at any other time before the relevant conduct), the
person may not be dealt with under this Part but may (if appropriate) be dealt
with under Part 8.
(3) However, despite
the fact that the judge is satisfied that the person's mental impairment at
the time of the conduct alleged to give rise to the offence was substantially
caused by self-induced intoxication, the judge may nevertheless make an order
that the person be dealt with under this Part after taking into account—
(a) the
time and circumstances of when and how the intoxication caused the
mental impairment; and
(b) the
interests of justice; and
(c)
whether the making of such an order would affect public confidence in the
administration of justice.