South Australian Current Acts South Australian Current Acts102—Joinder and separation of charges
(1) Subject to this
Act, charges for 2 or more offences may be joined in the same information if
those charges are founded on the same facts or form, or are a part of, a
series of offences of the same or a similar character.
(2) The charges joined
in the same information under subsection (1) may include charges of any 1
or more of the following:
(a)
major indictable offences;
(b)
minor indictable offences;
(c)
summary offences.
(3) Subject to
subsection (4)—
(a) if
an information contains a charge of a major indictable offence, all charges of
minor indictable or summary offences included in the same information will be
dealt with according to the procedures applicable to major indictable
offences; and
(b) if
an information includes a charge of a minor indictable offence, but no charge
of a major indictable offence, all charges of summary offences included in the
same information will be dealt with according to the procedures applicable to
minor indictable offences,
but the penalty that may be awarded for an offence is unaffected by the fact
that the offence is dealt with according to procedures applicable to offences
of a more serious class.
(4) If a person has
been committed to a superior court for trial on an information which includes
charges for both indictable offences and summary offences, the superior court
may, if it thinks fit, order that the charges of summary offences be remitted
to the Magistrates Court and dealt with in the same way as if the offences had
been charged in a separate information.
(a)
charges contained in a single information be dealt with in separate
proceedings; or
(b)
charges contained in separate informations be dealt with together in the same
proceedings (provided that a court may only direct that charges contained in
separate informations be tried together if the charges could, in accordance
with subsection (1), have been joined together in the same information).
(6) Despite
subsection (5) and any rule of law to the contrary, if 2 or more counts
charging sexual offences involving different alleged victims are joined in the
same information, the following provisions apply:
(a)
subject to paragraph (b), those counts are to be tried together;
(b) the
judge may order a separate trial of a count relating to a particular alleged
victim if (and only if) evidence relating to that count is not admissible in
relation to each other count relating to a different alleged victim.
(7) Substantive
charges may be laid in the same information (and tried together)
against—
(a) any
number of accessories at different times to any offence; and
(b) any
number of receivers at different times of property stolen at 1 time,
notwithstanding that the principal offender is not included in the same
information or is not available to be tried.
(a) 2 or
more defendants are charged with committing a summary or minor
indictable offence jointly; and
(b) 1 or
more of the defendants is to be tried in a superior court for that offence or
for another offence charged on the same information,
the Magistrates Court must order that all the defendants be committed for
trial in the superior court together (notwithstanding that 1 or more of the
defendants may have failed to elect for trial in a superior court or are
charged only with 1 or more summary offences).
(9) In this
section—
"sexual offence" means—
(a) an
offence against section 48, 48A, 49, 50, 56, 58, 63B or 72 of the
Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 ; or
(b) an
attempt to commit, or an assault with intent to commit, any of those offences;
or
(c) a
substantially similar offence against a corresponding previous enactment; or
(d) an
offence against the law of the Commonwealth, another State or a Territory
corresponding to an offence referred to in a preceding paragraph.