Committal Proceedings Under Section 6(1) Of The Magistrates' Courts Act 1980

[D123456A]

Can you claim Committal Proceedings Under Section 6(1) Of The Magistrates' Courts Act 1980 if there are 4 witness statements (one from the victim and 3 from his collegue?

DEFINITION OF Committal Proceedings Under Section 6(1) Of The Magistrates' Courts Act 1980 :

Committals under this section must take place if the defendant (or one of them) has no legal representative or one of them (or a legal representative) so requests. The magistrates' are required to consider whether or not there is sufficient evidence to put the defendant on trial by jury for any indictable (i.e. either way) offence (Archbold 10-9 to 11) . The function of committal proceedings is to ensure that no one shall stand trial unless a prima facie case has been established (R.v. Epping & Harlow Jjs, ex parte Massaro, 1973, 57 Cr.App.R.499).
The prosecution has no right to call for a Section 6(1) committal.

Lawman1856 your advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[Vesper99]

You are always entitled to a commital hearing (as opposed to a 'paper commital' ) which is to determine whether you have a case to answer. The test for having a case to answer is very strict and the matter would be dismissed only if thew prosecution evidence completely failed to stand up to the charge. The evidence of a victim and witnesses would seem to rule this out.

[seatrout]

The days of a committal hearing involving witnesses attending court are long since gone. Most committals are now done under s6(2) - the committal papers are served on the defence who then accept that there is a prima facie case.

Occasionally defendants ask for a "read" committal under s6(1) The prosecutor will read or sumarrise the prosecution evidence and the court will decide whether or not there is a prima facie case. They are quite rare nowadays because you cannot really challenge the prosecution evidence. The magistrates are simply sitting as examining justices all the prosecution have to show is that there is some evidence to indicate your involvement in the offence

The decision as to whether the committal hearing is to be a 6(1) or a 6(2) is for the defence not the prosecution. It can only be made after the committal papers have been served - until then you dont know what the prosecution case against you is

[D123456A]

Thank you both for your answer. It's helped to clear things in my head.

Thank you.