South Australian Consolidated Acts

CRIMINAL LAW CONSOLIDATION ACT 1935 - SECT 285C

285C—Notice of certain evidence to be given

        (1)         Subject to subsection (2), if a defendant proposes to introduce evidence of alibi at the trial of an indictable offence in the Supreme Court or the District Court, prior notice of the proposed evidence must be given.

        (2)         Notice of proposed evidence of alibi is not required under subsection (1) if the same evidence, or evidence to substantially the same effect, was received at the preliminary examination at which the defendant was committed for trial.

        (3)         The notice—

            (a)         must be in writing;

            (b)         must contain—

                  (i)         a summary setting out with reasonable particularity the facts sought to be established by the evidence; and

                  (ii)         the name and address of the witness by whom the evidence is to be given; and

                  (iii)         any other particulars that may be required by the rules;

            (c)         must be given within seven days after the defendant is committed for trial;

            (d)         must be given by lodging the notice at the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions or by serving the notice by post on the Director of Public Prosecutions.

        (4)         Non-compliance with this section does not render evidence inadmissible but the non-compliance may be made the subject of comment to the jury.

        (5)         Except with the permission of the court, evidence in rebuttal of an alibi shall not be adduced after the close of the case for the prosecution.

        (6)         Permission shall be granted under subsection (5) where the defendant gives or adduces evidence of alibi in respect of which—

            (a)         no notice was given under this section; or

            (b)         notice was given but not with sufficient particularity,

(but this section does not limit the discretion of the court to grant such permission in any other case).

        (7)         In any legal proceedings, a certificate apparently signed by the Director of Public Prosecutions certifying receipt or non-receipt of a notice under this section, or any matters relevant to the question of the sufficiency of a notice given by a defendant under this section, shall be accepted, in the absence of proof to the contrary, as proof of the matters so certified.

        (8)         In this section—

"evidence of alibi" means evidence given or adduced, or to be given or adduced, by a defendant tending to show that he was in a particular place or within a particular area at a particular time and thus tending to rebut an allegation made against him either in the charge on which he is to be tried or in evidence adduced in support of the charge at the preliminary examination at which he was committed for trial.