What does "Committal" mean?
April 4, 2021
The committal process can be confusing
Historically the majority of committal matters proceeded by waiver of committal. A waiver of committal simply means that the Magistrate does not have to decide whether there is enough evidence to commit the defendant for trial in the District Court of New South Wales. The Magistrate could make that decision on the brief alone (with submissions from Defence and Prosecution) or by hearing oral evidence from Prosecution witnesses.
The Early Appropriate Guilty Plea Reforms have completely changed this process. The power of a Magistrate to discharge alleged offences against an accused person has been abolished.
Instead the Magistrate performs a case management role and ensures that the matter progresses smoothly. The Magistrate will maintain the power to direct the attendance of prosecution witnesses at ‘witness hearings’ and will still commit an accused for trial or sentence.
A committal strictly means the transfer of your matter from
the Local Court to the District or Supreme Court.
Witness Hearings
A witness hearing is where the Magistrate directs the attendance of a prosecution witnesses for cross-examination. The key purposes of directing the attendance of a witness are to assess the strength of the case against the accused person, resolve a factual dispute and narrow the issues at the trial. The witness hearing may result in a changed charge certificate being filed or the withdrawal of certain charges.
Witnesses are not directed to attend for a hearing unless there is either substantial or special reasons. The Magistrate must be satisfied that there are substantial reasons why in the interests of justice the witness should attend or be satisfied (in the case of an alleged victim of an offence involving violence) of special reasons why, in the interests of justice an alleged victim of an offence should attend.
There are some classes of victims which must not be directed to attend, they include a complainant in proceedings for a prescribed sexual offence who is cognitively impaired, a complainant in proceedings for a child sexual assault offence if the complainant was under 16 at earliest date when the offence was allegedly committed and is under 18 at time of the
proceedings.
For more information about the new committals procedures and the new EAGP reforms please feel free to contact our team.
