When you plead not guilty to a summary charge, the matter will be listed for a trial in the Magistrates Court.

Your trial will be heard by a Magistrate, rather than a jury at your magistrates court trial.

The Magistrate will have to make decisions on legal argument, on credibility of witnesses, and ultimately, whether or not the prosecution have proved the charge against you “beyond reasonable doubt”.

The prosecutor will be a police officer. Most prosecutors do not have a legal degree but will have courtroom experience.

What’s the criminal trial process?

Burden of proof

In all criminal trials, the burden of proof rests on the prosecution to prove the elements of the offence beyond reasonable doubt.

However, sometimes the burden of proof can be reversed. An example of this is for the charge of possession of a prohibited drug “with intent to sell or supply”. There is a presumed intent to sell or supply drugs based on the type of drug and amount of the drug. In this case, you would need to prove, on the “balance of probabilities” that you did not intent to sell or supply the drugs.

Opening address

The trial will commence with both parties having the opportunity to make an opening statement, with the prosecution going first.

The purpose of an opening statement is to briefly outline each party’s case, letting the Magistrate know what evidence you intend to provide, and what issues the Magistrate will need to make a decision on.

The defence can choose to make an opening statement now, or at the start of the defence case.

An opening address is not a requirement of a Magistrates Court trial.

Prosecution case

The prosecutor will call their first witness. If there is a “complainant” in a matter, then this will be the first witness. The complainant is often followed by any other civilian witnesses, and then any police and expert witnesses. 

The witness will be sworn in, and will be required to give an oath or affirmation promising to tell the truth.

In some cases, the complainant and other witnesses may give evidence by CCTV either from another room in the court building or from a different location.

Tendering exhibits in a Magistrates Court Trial

Both parties can tender exhibits, such as documents or photographs. In order to tender such evidence, the person who prepared the document or took the photograph must give evidence.

Evidence in chief

The prosecutor will ask each prosecution witness questions, known as the “evidence in chief”. The answers given by a witness in court under oath or affirmation becomes their evidence.

If you participated in a video record of interview, it may be played in court, and will form part of the prosecution case.

Cross examination

The defence will then have the opportunity to “cross-examine” each prosecution witness. The purpose of cross examination is to challenge the evidence of the witness.

If you have a different version of events of what happened, you will have to put forth your version of events to the witness (known as the “Browne v Dunn” rule) to give them the opportunity to respond to it.

Re-examination

The prosecutor will then have the opportunity to re-examine the witness. They can only re-examine to the extent of clarifying their evidence, and cannot raise new matters.

Defence case

After the prosecution close their case, the defence has the opportunity to call witnesses. In some cases, no witnesses are called. In some cases, you will give evidence, while in other cases, you won’t. If defence witnesses are called to give evidence, they can be cross-examined by the prosecutor and then re-examined by defence afterwards.

You are not required to give evidence at your trial, though depending on your defence, you may need to in order to raise your defence.

For example, if you are relying on the defence of “self-defence”, you will need to give evidence as to why you did what you did.

Closing address for the Magistrates Court Trial

Once all of the evidence has been given, both parties will have the opportunity to give a closing address, with the prosecution going first.

Each party will summarise their case, and point out the strengths and weaknesses of the case. No new evidence can be raised at this point.

The decision

The Magistrate will either:

1. Give a decision immediately;
2. Take a short break before coming back with a decision; or
3. Adjourn the matter to a later date to give a decision.

The possible outcomes will be:

1. Guilty of the offence as charged;
2. Guilty of a lesser offence (if applicable); o
3. Not guilty.

If you are found not guilty, you will be acquitted, and this will be the end of the matter. If you were on bail, your bail obligations will come to an end.

If you were legally represented, you may make an application for costs, to cover any legal fees you have paid.

If you are found guilty, you will be convicted and sentenced. The conviction will be recorded on your criminal record, and will appear on a police check unless you are granted a spent conviction.

Looking for a criminal defence lawyer in Perth to represent you?

Chambers Legal regularly represents accused people in the Magistrates Court for trial. For advice or legal representation, get in touch with our friendly team today.

There has been a recent case in the media in which it is alleged that a 17-year-old accused broke into someone’s house and assaulted the occupant. The occupant ultimately died from the injuries of the alleged assault, and at the time of death, the accused had already turned 18 years old. You can read more about this case here.

An interesting legal jurisdiction question is raised here, regarding whether the accused’s legal matter should be heard in the Children’s Court, as he was 17 years old when the alleged assault occurred, or whether he should be heard in the adult court, as he was 18 years old when the occupant died from injuries caused by the alleged assault. The legal question raised in this case is whether the “offence” occurred when the accused was a child or an adult.

So, what does that mean for my trial – Children’s Court or the Adult Court?

In Western Australia, the Children’s Court deals with accused people who were under the age of 18 years when the alleged crime was committed. That means that children who are charged with criminal offences will be dealt with in the Children’s Court, as well as adults who are charged with having committed offences when they were younger.

Children as young as 10 years old can currently be arrested and charged and held in custody. This is called the age of criminal responsibility. If an accused child is between 10 years old and 14 years old, the police must prove in court that the child understood that their behaviour was wrong. A child over 14 years old can be held responsible for breaking the law, even if the child did not necessarily understand that what they were doing is wrong. You may have seen some discussion recently about calls to change the law to increase the age of criminal responsibility to 14.

Proceedings in the Children’s Court run similarly to that in adult court, in that there is a prosecutor who represents the State and a Magistrate who hears the case. In more serious cases, the case may be heard before the President of the Children’s Court, who is able to impose more serious penalties.

Trials in the Children’s Court are heard by a Magistrate or the President. There is no jury. There is an allowance, however, for an accused person to elect for their trial to be heard in the District Court with a jury. In some cases, there may be good reasons for preferring a jury to determine your case depending on the subject matter and the issues that need to be decided.

The other thing to bear in mind is that the sentencing options differ in the Children’s Court. There are more options for sentencing available in the Children’s Court, and a lot more sentences aim for rehabilitation rather than punishment.

We eagerly await the outcome of the legal argument as to whether the accused person’s criminal charge will be dealt with in the Children’s Court or the Adult Court. This could set an interesting precedent for future cases.

Find the best criminal lawyer in Perth for your case

If you require any legal advice or representation for your Children’s Court or Adult Court criminal charge, and are seeking a criminal defence lawyer, Chambers Legal is available for consultation and representation. Get in touch with our friendly team today.