South Australian Current Acts South Australian Current Acts21—Presence of defendant during sentencing proceedings
(1) Subject to the
exceptions set out in subsection (2), a defendant who is to be sentenced
for an indictable offence must be present when the sentence is imposed and
throughout all proceedings relevant to the determination of sentence.
(2) The following
exceptions apply:
(a) the
defendant may, with the court's consent, be absent during the whole or part of
the proceedings;
(b) if a
defendant is in custody prior to sentence and facilities exist for dealing
with proceedings by means of an audio visual link or audio link, the court
may, if of the opinion that it is appropriate in the circumstances to do so,
deal with the proceedings by audio visual link or audio link without requiring
the personal attendance of the defendant;
(c) the
court may exclude the defendant from the courtroom if satisfied that the
exclusion is necessary in the interests of safety or for the orderly conduct
of the proceedings (however, if such an exclusion is made, the court should
(if practicable) make arrangements to enable the defendant to see and hear the
proceedings by audio visual link).
(3) If the defendant
is a body corporate, the requirement is satisfied by the presence of a
director or some other representative of the body corporate satisfactory to
the court (but, in that case, either the prosecutor or the court may waive the
requirement).
(4) A court may make
any order necessary to secure compliance with this section and, if necessary,
issue a warrant to have the defendant (or, if the defendant is a body
corporate, a director or other representative of the defendant) arrested and
brought before the court.
(5) This
section—
(a) does
not prevent the passing of sentence in the absence of the defendant in a case
where the defendant cannot be found; and
(b) does
not invalidate a sentence passed in the absence of the defendant.