If evidence was not applied for at the preparatory hearing, what are the only grounds on which it may be applied for at the trial hearing?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
We read the record of the preparatory hearing showing which evidence was applied for there, the trial papers holding the disputed application, and any written explanation of why the evidence was not put forward earlier. Where the court raised the evidence itself, the hearing record should show it acted on its own motion.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading treats trial-stage evidence as the exception: under the Criminal Procedure Act, evidence not applied for at the preparatory hearing may be applied for at the trial hearing only where the application would not markedly delay the proceedings, or where unavoidable circumstances are explained together with the absence of serious fault. The first branch turns on the effect the application has on the pace of the case, the second on what the party explains about the earlier omission.
Another reading notes that the court may investigate evidence of its own motion notwithstanding that paragraph, so the bar on late applications does not bind the court's own examination, and the provision leaves open what the court must record or when it will use that power.
Your judgment
When a party offers evidence at the trial hearing, which papers could show that the delay would not be significant, or that the earlier omission was unavoidable and not due to serious fault?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We look at this again if the provision is amended to change the grounds on which evidence may be applied for after the preparatory hearing. A court decision explaining what unavoidable circumstances and the absence of serious fault require, or how far the court's own-motion power reaches, would also change which reading governs.