South Australian Current Acts South Australian Current Acts (1) Where a charge of
an indictable offence is to proceed to an answer charge hearing, the
prosecutor must, at least 4 weeks before the date appointed for that hearing,
file in the Magistrates Court a brief (the "committal brief")
containing—
(a)
statements of witnesses for the prosecution on which the prosecutor relies as
tending to establish the guilt of the defendant; and
(b)
copies of any documents on which the prosecutor relies as tending to establish
the guilt of the defendant (other than sensitive material or documents that
are of only peripheral relevance to the subject matter of the charge); and
(c) a
document describing any other evidentiary material (including
sensitive material and documents that are of only peripheral relevance to the
subject matter of the charge) on which the prosecutor relies as tending to
establish the guilt of the defendant together with a statement of the
significance the material is alleged to have; and
(d) all
other material relevant to the charge (whether relevant to the case for the
prosecution or the case for the defence) that is available to the prosecution
except material exempt from production because of privilege or for some other
reason,
provided that any such material that has already been included in the
preliminary brief (filed in the Magistrates Court and given to the defendant
or a legal practitioner representing the defendant under section 106)
need not be included in the committal brief.
(2) If material of the
kind required to be included in the committal brief comes into the
prosecutor's possession after the filing of the committal brief, the
prosecutor must file the new material in the Magistrates Court as soon as
practicable after it comes into the prosecutor's possession (and on so doing
it will be taken to form part of the committal brief for the purposes of this
Act).
(3) If material is
filed in the Court in accordance with subsection (1) or (2), a copy of
that material must be given to the defendant or a legal practitioner
representing the defendant as soon as practicable after it is so filed.
(4) A witness
statement included in a committal brief—
(a) must
be in the form of an affidavit; and
(b)
if—
(i)
the statement is tendered for the prosecution and relates
to an interview between an investigating officer and the defendant; and
(ii)
an audio visual record or audio record of the interview,
or the reading over of a written record of the interview, was made under the
Summary Offences Act 1953 ,
must be accompanied by a copy of the audio visual record or audio record.
(5) However, if the
witness is a witness to whom this subsection applies, the following provisions
apply:
(a) the
witness's statement may be—
(i)
in the form of a written statement taken down by an
investigating officer at an interview with the witness and verified by the
officer as an accurate record of the witness's oral statements at the
interview so far as they are relevant to the subject matter of the charge; or
(ii)
in the form of an audio visual record or audio record of
an interview with the witness that is accompanied by a written transcript
verified by an investigating officer or person of a prescribed class who was
present at the interview as a complete record of the interview;
(b) if a
recording referred to in paragraph (a)(ii) is filed in the Court, the
prosecutor must—
(i)
provide the defendant with a copy of the verified written
transcript of the recording at least 4 weeks before the date appointed for the
answer charge hearing or, if the recording comes into the prosecutor's
possession on a later date, as soon as practicable after the recording comes
into the prosecutor's possession; and
(ii)
inform the defendant that the defendant is entitled to
have the recording played over to the defendant or his or her legal
representative (or both) and propose a time and place for the playing over of
the recording;
(c) the
time proposed for playing the recording must be at least 2 weeks before the
date appointed for the answer charge hearing or, if the recording comes into
the prosecutor's possession at a later date, as soon as practicable after the
recording comes into the prosecutor's possession (but the time and place may
be modified by agreement).
(6)
Subsection (5) applies to a witness who is—
(a)
illiterate; or
(b) a
child of or under the age of 14 years; or
(c) a
person with a disability that adversely affects the person's capacity to give
a coherent account of the person's experiences or to respond rationally to
questions; or
(d) the
victim of an alleged sexual offence; or
(e) the
victim of an alleged offence involving domestic abuse (within the meaning of
the Intervention Orders (Prevention of Abuse) Act 2009 ).
(7) If the prosecutor
relies on evidence that is sensitive material as tending to establish the
guilt of the defendant, the prosecutor must, at least 4 weeks before the
date appointed for the answer charge hearing—
(a) give
the defendant copies of the sensitive material; or
(b) give
the defendant a sensitive material notice in relation to the material.