Claiming Trial FAQs

When you’re charged in Court for a criminal offence, you must choose the course of action to take:

• You can choose to Plead Guilty (i.e. admit that you committed the offence and accept the punishment for the offence)
• You can choose to Claim Trial (i.e. deny that you committed the offence and prove your innocence at a trial in Court)

If you decide to claim trial, a separate Court hearing (known as a trial) will take place where the Judge will take into account the evidence presented and arrive at a decision as to whether the Public Prosecutor has succeeded in showing your guilt.

• If the Public Prosecutor can successfully prove its case against you (i.e. it can prove that you carried out the offence), the Judge will convict you of the charge and impose a sentence against you.
• If the Public Prosecutor fails in proving its case against you (i.e. it cannot prove that you carried out the offence), the Judge will acquit you of the charge.

During the trial, the Public Prosecutor will present the evidence to try to prove beyond reasonable doubt that you carried out the offence and you’ll present your evidence to prove that there is still reasonable doubt whether you carried out the offence.

If you claim trial, you can engage a Criminal lawyer to represent you at a trial or you can conduct the trial on your own if you don’t have a lawyer.

After you’ve decided to claim trial, the Court will need to manage the progress of the case up to the day of the trial.

This is done through separate administrative hearings called Pre-Trial Conference (PTC). Each PTC is a closed-door Court hearing administered by a Judge and attended by your Criminal lawyer (if you’re legally represented) and a Prosecuting Officer (e.g. Deputy Public Prosecutor).  

You must also check that your Criminal lawyer explains the following to you as you prepare to claim trial:

• The PTC is used to allow the parties involved in the trial to discuss how they plan to manage the presentation of their evidence and make use of the time allowed for the trial.
• Trial hearing dates will be arranged once the parties involved in the trial are ready to start the trial.
• The number of trial dates depends on the number of issues and evidence involved in the case i.e. more trial dates will be arranged for a case involving many issues or many witnesses.
• You must inform the Court of the evidence that you’ll be presenting at the trial.
• You must inform the Court of the number of witnesses you plan to call and their availability to attend the trial. Interpreters will be arranged by the Court if your witnesses don’t speak English.
• You’re responsible for making sure your witnesses attend the trial. You can apply to the Court to issue an official notice (i.e. subpoena) to require your witnesses to attend the trial if they don’t wish to attend voluntarily.

After you’ve decided to claim trial, the Court will need to manage the progress of the case up to the day of the trial.

This is done through separate administrative hearings called Pre-Trial Conference (PTC). Each PTC is a closed-door Court hearing administered by a Judge and attended by your Criminal lawyer (if you’re legally represented) and a Prosecuting Officer (e.g. Deputy Public Prosecutor).  

You must also check that your Criminal lawyer explains the following to you as you prepare to claim trial:

• The PTC is used to allow the parties involved in the trial to discuss how they plan to manage the presentation of their evidence and make use of the time allowed for the trial.
• Trial hearing dates will be arranged once the parties involved in the trial are ready to start the trial.
• The number of trial dates depends on the number of issues and evidence involved in the case i.e. more trial dates will be arranged for a case involving many issues or many witnesses.
• You must inform the Court of the evidence that you’ll be presenting at the trial.
• You must inform the Court of the number of witnesses you plan to call and their availability to attend the trial. Interpreters will be arranged by the Court if your witnesses don’t speak English.
• You’re responsible for making sure your witnesses attend the trial. You can apply to the Court to issue an official notice (i.e. subpoena) to require your witnesses to attend the trial if they don’t wish to attend voluntarily.

After all the witnesses have testified at the trial, the Prosecution and Defence (i.e. you or your Criminal lawyer) will present oral or written closing arguments i.e. summarise the evidence presented at the trial and give reasons why the Judge should accept their evidence and decide in their favour.

The Judge will assess the evidence and arguments and make a final decision on whether or not the Prosecution has succeeded in proving that you committed the offence beyond reasonable doubt.

• If the Public Prosecutor can successfully prove its case against you (i.e. it can prove that you carried out the offence), the Judge will convict you of the charge and impose a sentence against you.
• If the Public Prosecutor fails in proving its case against you (i.e. it cannot prove that you carried out the offence), the Judge will acquit you of the charge.

If the Judge decides that the Public Prosecutor has successfully proven its case against you (i.e. that you carried out the offence), you can present a mitigation plea to tell the Judge of any mitigating factors which you have to justify a lower sentence so that the Judge assess them before imposing the sentence against you.

 After the Judge makes a decision on the conviction and sentence against you, either you or the Prosecution can make an appeal to a higher Court (e.g. the High Court) in these situations:

• If you’ve pleaded guilty and are not satisfied with the Judge’s decision on the sentence, you can make an appeal against the sentence imposed
  • You can make an appeal against a sentence on the basis that it was manifestly excessive or not supported by the facts or the law.
  • The Prosecution can make an appeal against the sentence on the basis that it was manifestly inadequate or not supported by the facts or the law.
• If you’re convicted after a trial and are not satisfied with the Judge’s decisions on conviction and sentence, you can make an appeal to the High Court against the conviction and sentence.
• If you’re acquitted after having claimed trial, the Prosecution appeal to the High Court against the acquittal.
• You must submit the application for the appeal within 14 days from the date of the conviction or sentence.
• After an appeal is submitted, the Court will schedule a separate hearing where the reasons in support of the appeal will be assessed – the appeal will be granted if the reasons have merit and justify the appeal being granted.