Western Australian Current Acts

CRIMINAL PROCEDURE ACT 2004 - SECT 129

129 .         Plea of guilty, procedure on

        (1)         This section applies if an accused pleads guilty in a court but does not apply if the plea is made in a court of summary jurisdiction to a charge that is to be dealt with on indictment.

        (2)         Unless the plea is a written plea given to a court of summary jurisdiction, the court must not accept the plea unless —

            (a)         the accused is represented by a legal practitioner; or

            (b)         if the accused is not so represented, the court is satisfied the accused understands the plea and its consequences.

        (3)         Before the court sentences the accused, the prosecutor must state aloud to the court the material facts of the offence to which the accused has pleaded guilty.

        (4)         If under this Act the accused has been served with one or more written statements of the material facts, the facts stated aloud must be those in the written statement that was last served.

        (5)         This section does not affect a court’s power to decide the material facts of an offence on the basis of such information as it thinks fit.

        [Section 129 amended: No. 2 of 2008 s. 25; No. 21 of 2008 s. 657(8).]