Committals
The hearing in the Magistrates Court to determine whether prosecution have enough evidence to proceed in the Higher Courts on indictment. If there is enough evidence the accused is committed for trial or sentence to the District or Supreme Court. If there is not enough evidence the accused is discharged (remember that in those instances future charges may be laid - without any issue of double jeopardy).
The relevant legislation for committals in the Justices Act 1886 (Qld) - specifically ss104-134. There are now three forms of committal that may be used in Queensland: Registry committal, full hand up/paper committal, or committal with oral evidence.
Principle purposes of committal (Grassby v The Queen (1988) 168 CLR 1):
* to ensure that a defendant is not put on trial on indictment without sufficient cause;
* to allow the defendant to learn the case against them; and
* to marshal the evidence into deposition (written) form.
There is arguably another role of committals in testing evidence.
The relevant legislation for committals in the Justices Act 1886 (Qld) - specifically ss104-134. There are now three forms of committal that may be used in Queensland: Registry committal, full hand up/paper committal, or committal with oral evidence.
Principle purposes of committal (Grassby v The Queen (1988) 168 CLR 1):
* to ensure that a defendant is not put on trial on indictment without sufficient cause;
* to allow the defendant to learn the case against them; and
* to marshal the evidence into deposition (written) form.
There is arguably another role of committals in testing evidence.
Purpose 1: Sufficient CauseNecessary to establish 'prima facie case.' This is similar to the no case to answer submissions during a trial.
* A prima facie case will only be established where there is some evidence on all the elements of an offence. The test: is there evidence upon which a reasonable jury, properly directed could convict? (Doney v The Queen (1990) 171 CLR 207.) * Credibility is generally not in issue at the committal. An accused person can be committed on a different offence than that charged and can be committed for trial or sentence. An accused person can concede a 'prima facie case'. |
'Committal proceedings are an important element in our system of criminal justice. They constitute such an important element in the protection of the accused that a trial held without antecedent committal proceedings, unless justified on strong and powerful grounds, must necessarily be considered unfair.'
Barton v The Queen (1980) 147 CLR 75 at 100. |
Purpose 2: Learning the Case
Generally the prosecution should not hold evidence back at the committal. However, there may be special circumstances which justify holding evidence back (see, eg R v Basha (1989) 39 A Crim R 337.) However, new evidence may be presented at trial.