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Criminal Procedure Act 2011

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

118: Hearings at which defendant must be present

You could also call this:

"When you have to be in court for your case"

Illustration for Criminal Procedure Act 2011

You must be at a court hearing if you are on police bail or have been summoned to attend. You must also be there if you have been remanded in custody, or on bail, to attend the hearing.

If you have a lawyer, you do not have to be at the hearing for some things, like deciding the trial date or where it will be held. You also do not have to be there for discussions about how you will give evidence, as outlined in subpart 5 of Part 3 of the Evidence Act 2006, or for talks about whether your charges will be tried with someone else's.

The court can also excuse you from attending a hearing, or remove you if you are interrupting. If you have pleaded guilty and do not want to attend the hearing, you do not have to be there, unless you said you wanted to attend under section 38(2)(a).

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM3360207.

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Crime and justice > Criminal lawCrime and justice > Courts and legal help
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Part 5General provisions
Conduct of proceeding: Presence of defendant at hearings

118Hearings at which defendant must be present

  1. A defendant must be present at any hearing if he or she—

  2. is on police bail, or has been summoned, to attend that hearing; or
    1. has been remanded in custody, or on bail or at large, to attend that hearing.

      1. Subsection (1) does not apply if—

      2. the court excuses the defendant from attending the hearing or any part of the hearing; or
        1. the court orders that the defendant be removed from the court for interrupting the hearing to such an extent that it is impracticable to continue in the defendant's presence; or
          1. the defendant is represented by a lawyer and the hearing is only in respect of—
            1. the place or date of the trial:
              1. case review, where the Registrar is exercising the power of the court under section 57(4) and the defendant is in custody:
                1. an alternative way of giving evidence under subpart 5 of Part 3 of the Evidence Act 2006:
                  1. whether 2 or more charges are to be tried together, or whether the charges against 1 defendant are to be tried with charges against 1 or more other defendants:
                    1. an application to take oral evidence under section 90:
                      1. a matter concerning the admissibility of evidence under sections 78 and 79 or section 101; or
                      2. the defendant has pleaded guilty by filing a notice in court under section 38 and the hearing is not one that the defendant has indicated under section 38(2)(a) that he or she wishes to attend.