Parkside man bailed on rape, unlawful detention charges — will wait 14 months for next court appearance

A PARKSIDE man who has been released on bail after facing court on rape charges will not face court again for 14 months.

A PARKSIDE man who has been released on bail after facing court on rape charges will not face court again for 14 months.

The man, 32, whose identity is automatically suppressed under state law, left the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Tuesday on $2000 bail and will face court again in May 2019.

He was arrested on Monday and has yet to plead to charges of unlawful detention and rape — the court heard he and the alleged victim were not known to one another before the incident.

Prosecutors told the court the 14-month delay was due “to the new provisions” that “came into effect on Monday”, but gave no further information.

Legal sources have told The Advertiser those provisions are the Criminal Procedures Act (1921) — legislation formerly known as the Summary Procedures Act (1921).

It splits the court process, for major indictable cases bound for the Supreme or District Courts, into five parts:

THE pre-committal stage.

COMMITTAL stage.

CASE statement stage.

POST arraignment stage.

POST trial stage.

Following an alleged offender’s arrest, cases are now handled by SA Police’s new Major Indictable Brief Unit.

It is MIBU’s job to advise the court how long it will be before a complete brief of evidence will be ready.

That brief is to include all forensic material, witness statements, medical examinations, post-mortem, toxicology and expert reports.

The legislation requires that courts “set timetables” that better reflect “the individual needs” of each case.

That means that, instead of 10 weeks passing between a person’s arrest and determination of whether they should face trial, time is allotted as the court feels necessary.

MIBU officers lease with staff from Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions as the case progresses through the pre-committal stage.

Prosecutors only take conduct of a matter once they determine the matter is to proceed as a major indictable and not be downgraded, taking it into the committal stage.

Once an alleged offender enters their plea, the case is adjourned for a further 12 weeks for prosecutors to lodge a “case statement” with defence, outlining the issues at trial.

Defence counsel have a further four weeks to respond before the case moves into the standard pre-trial hearings in the Supreme or District Courts.

Alleged offenders who plead guilty in the pre-committal stage can earn a sentence reduction of between 40 per cent and 30 per cent.

Discounts of up to 20 per cent are given to those who plead guilty during the committal stage, 15 per cent during case statement and 10 per cent post-arraignment.

Under the new laws, an offender who is found guilty at trial but can show they “engaged properly” with the process can still earn up to 10 per cent off their jail time.

The Advertiser has sought comment from the Attorney-General’s Department.

The Office of the DPP decline to comment saying the file was “the responsibility of SA Police”.

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