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Criminal Procedure Act 2011

General provisions - Conduct of proceeding - Presence of defendant at hearings

117: Defendant generally may be present at all hearings

You could also call this:

"You can usually be in court for your hearing, but the court can ask you to leave if needed."

Illustration for Criminal Procedure Act 2011

You can be in court when there is a hearing about the charge against you. The court can stop you being there if you keep interrupting and it is not possible to continue with you present. You can also ask the court if you can leave the courtroom for part or all of the hearing, and the court can agree to this if they want to.

You might not always be allowed to stay in the courtroom, even if you want to. The court gets to decide if you can stay or if you have to leave. They can let you leave on certain conditions that they think are fair.

If you want to know more about how this law has changed over time, you can look at the Criminal Procedure Act 2011 and other related laws, such as s 170 and s 376.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM2568039.

Topics:
Crime and justice > Courts and legal helpCrime and justice > Criminal law
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Part 5General provisions
Conduct of proceeding: Presence of defendant at hearings

117Defendant generally may be present at all hearings

  1. The defendant may be present in court during any hearing in relation to the charge against him or her.

  2. Subsection (1) does not apply if the defendant interrupts the hearing to such an extent that it is impracticable to continue in his or her presence.

  3. The court may permit the defendant to be out of court during the whole or any part of a hearing on any terms the court thinks fit.

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