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Criminal Procedure Act 2011

Trial - Provisions applying to both Judge-alone and jury trials - Witnesses

113: Adjourning trial for witness

You could also call this:

"Stopping a trial to get a fair hearing if a surprise witness appears"

Illustration for Criminal Procedure Act 2011

If you are on trial, the court can help you if you are surprised by a witness. The court can do this if it thinks you will be prejudiced by the surprise witness. You can ask the court to adjourn the trial or discharge the jury and postpone it.

If the court thinks a witness should be called to help your case, it can make the prosecution call them. The court can also make the witness come to court if they are not already there. In this situation, the court can adjourn the trial or discharge the jury and postpone it if that is what you ask for and it is in the interests of justice.

You can look at s 368 to compare with this law. The court makes these decisions to help ensure a fair trial. This is all part of the court's job to oversee the trial process.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM3360197.

Topics:
Crime and justice > Criminal lawCrime and justice > Courts and legal help
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Part 4Trial
Provisions applying to both Judge-alone and jury trials: Witnesses

113Adjourning trial for witness

  1. Subsection (2) applies if the court is of the opinion that the defendant is taken by surprise, in a manner likely to prejudice the defendant's defence, by the production of a prosecution witness without sufficient notice to the defendant.

  2. The court may, on the application of the defendant,—

  3. adjourn the trial; or
    1. discharge the jury and postpone the trial.

      1. If the court is of the opinion that a witness who is not called for the prosecution ought to be called, it may—

      2. require the prosecution to call the witness; and
        1. if the witness is not present, make an order for the attendance of the witness.

          1. In the case described in subsection (3), the court may—

          2. adjourn the trial; or
            1. if it is of the opinion that it would be in the interests of justice to do so, on the application of the defendant, discharge the jury and postpone the trial.

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