275Manner of dealing with offence of murder or manslaughter, or Schedule 1A offence, or where jury trial to be held

1. This section applies if a young person—

2. is charged with murder or manslaughter; or
3. is charged with a category 3 or 4 offence, other than murder or manslaughter, and elects to be tried by a jury; or
4. is aged 17 years and is charged with an offence specified in Schedule 1A; or
5. is to have a jury trial and be tried with a person with whom the young person is jointly charged, in accordance with section 277.

6. All applicable pre-trial processes must take place before the Youth Court, up to and including,—

7. subject to paragraphs (aa) and (ab), in the case of a charge relating to a category 3 offence or category 4 offence (other than murder or manslaughter), transferring the proceeding to the trial court after an adjournment for trial callover in accordance with section 57(3)(b) of the Criminal Procedure Act 2011; and
8. in the case of a young person aged 17 years charged with a category 3 offence specified in Schedule 1A, on adjournment of the proceeding after the young person’s first appearance, transferring the proceeding to the District Court to be dealt with in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Act 2011; and
9. in the case of a young person aged 17 years charged with a category 4 offence specified in Schedule 1A, transferring the proceeding to the High Court in accordance with section 36(2) of the Criminal Procedure Act 2011; and
10. in the case of a charge of murder or manslaughter, transferring the proceeding to the High Court in accordance with section 36(2) of the Criminal Procedure Act 2011.

11. However, if a young person aged 17 years charged with a Schedule 1A offence is jointly charged with a child or young person (other than a young person aged 17 years charged with a Schedule 1A offence), the proceeding must not be transferred to the District Court or the High Court unless—

12. 1 or more defendants elect jury trial and the co-defendants are to be tried together, in which case the proceeding must be transferred only after an adjournment for trial callover in accordance with subsection (2)(a); or
13. the defendants are to be tried separately, in which case the proceeding against the young person aged 17 years charged with a Schedule 1A offence must be transferred immediately following the determination that the defendants are to be tried separately, but after that young person’s first appearance, in accordance with subsection (2)(aa) or (ab); or
14. 1 or more co-defendants are charged with murder or manslaughter, in which case subsection (2)(b) applies.

15. For the purposes of the pre-trial processes referred to in subsection (2),—

16. the Youth Court has all the powers of the District Court; and
17. the Youth Court must be presided over by a Youth Court Judge, or, in the absence of a Youth Court Judge, by a District Court Judge.

18. In this section, applicable pre-trial processes include all applicable processes under subparts 1 to 4 of Part 3 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2011, any other provisions of that Act referred to in subsection (5); and those processes apply with the necessary modifications.

19. For the purpose of subsection (4), sections 60 to 62(1), 62(3) to 65, and 116 of that Act (which relate to sentence indications) apply despite Schedule 1 of this Act.

20. This section is subject to section 276.