Page updated on: Friday April 23, 2010
If you’ve been summonsed to court or have been released on Police bail, you must appear in the specified District Court to hear the charges against you. It is very important that you appear at the time and on that day specified or a warrant for your arrest may be issued.
Often people are charged with offences in a court which isn’t in the area they live in. This is because charges are laid in the court nearest to the place where the offence took place.
Andrew lives in Porirua. He was driving to Auckland one weekend when he was involved in a small accident in Taupo. The other driver broke her thumb as a result of the accident. After the Police investigate, they decide to charge Andrew with “careless driving causing injury”.
Outcome: Andrew will receive a summons to appear in the Taupo District Court, because that is the court closest to where the offence took place.
People who have been charged in a court a long way from home often want to transfer the case closer to where they live. This is only possible if they are going to plead guilty to the charge. If you planning to plead not guilty, you will have to appear in person at each court appearance in the court you were charged.
Andrew must appear in the court at Taupo unless he wants to plead guilty. If he wants to plead guilty, he can ask for the charge to be transferred to the court at Porirua. However, if he wants to plead not guilty, he will have to go to Taupo for the first appearance and also for every other appearance in Court. He should expect to go to Taupo at least three times for a careless driving causing injury charge. He can choose whether to instruct a lawyer in Porirua or in Taupo, although it may be cheaper to instruct a lawyer in Taupo because a lawyer from Porirua will charge him travelling time to go to Taupo.
If you want to plead guilty and have the charges transferred to a court close to your home, you will need to fill in a Transfer of Proceedings form. You should fill it in (using the example given) and fax or post copies of the form to the original court you were charged in, as well as the court you want the charge to be heard in. You will receive a letter back stating whether the charge has been transferred. If you have not received this letter within a week of your court date, you need to contact the original court by phone. You must appear in court on the date that the charge has been transferred to.
The only time you won’t have to appear yourself after being summonsed is if you have been charged with a minor offence which does not carry a possible term of imprisonment (such as careless driving) and you wish to plead guilty to the offence. In this situation you are able to enter a guilty plea by post. You will need to write a letter to the Registrar of the District Court saying that you are entering a guilty plea and giving any explanation as to the circumstances of the offence and your own personal circumstances to help the Court decide the appropriate penalty. You need to make sure this letter will reach the Court at least three days before the date you are supposed to appear in court. You will receive a response by post giving the penalty.