51
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In addition, the Secretary of State is of opinion that--
(iii) The offender should, save in exceptional circumstances, (a) be over the age of 30 years; and (5) have already under- gone at least one sentence of penal servitude; and
(iv) The offence with which the offender is charged must be a
substantial and serious crime.
The last two considerations are not statutory conditions, and there may, therefore, be occasional exceptions, but no case should be presented to the Director of Public Prosecutions where any of the above circumstances are absent, except for special reasons which should be explicitly stated in the application.
5. The case of any man who has already been convicted as an habitual criminal and released from Preventive Detention either on licence under section 14 of the Act or on expiration of sentence and is subsequently charged with a crime within the Schedule to the Act, should be presented to the Director of Public Prosecutions for his consideration. Where the accused has been previously convicted of being an habitual criminal and sentenced to Preventive Detention, proof of such previous conviction and sentence is, by section 10 (2) (5) of the Act, substituted for proof of the three previous convictions required in other cases by section 10 (2) (a); in other words, in such a case the previous conviction as an habitual criminal and sentence to Preventive Detention is the only conviction (and sentence) which need be strictly proved. Such proof, since the decision of the Court of Criminal Appeal in R. v. Norman [(1924) 18 C.A.R. 81] is not necessarily (though it may be) sufficient to establish a charge that the offender is an habitual criminal and accordingly the particulars set out in paragraph 6 should be supplied to the Director of Public Prosecutions in all cases reported to him.
6. An application to the Director of Public Prosecutions should state:--
(a) Full details of the new charge.
(b) The age of the prisoner.
(c) Particulars of his previous convictions (.., Court, date,
offence and sentence).
(d) The dates when he was released from prison, if possible, and.
in any event, the date of his last release.
(e) His mode of life so far as it is known between the expiration of one sentence and the commencement of another, especially at the time immediately preceding his arrest on the new charge.
(f) The evidence which is available, outside the recorded convic- tions, to support any general allegation that the prisoner is of bad character, or is the associate of criminals or suspected persons, or is persistently leading a criminal life.
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7. The notice to the prisoner required by Section 10 (4) (b) of the Act is drawn up in the Director of Public Prosecutions' office, and sent in duplicate to the l'olice, who serve it on the prisoner. The notice to the Court by which the offender is to be tried that a charge of being an habitual criminal will be preferred [Section 10 (4) (b)] is given by the Director.
8. It must be borne in mind that the notice to the prisoner has to be given seven clear days before the day on which the indictment is preferred; thus, if a bill of indictment containing a charge under the Prevention of Crime Act will be submitted to the Grand Jury on a Tuesday, the notice to the prisoner must be served not later than Monday in the previous week. Immediately after the service of the notice, the police officer should endorse on the copy the date of such service.
9. If some further fact in support of the charge of being an habitual criminal is discovered after the notice has been served on the prisoner, the Director of Public Prosecutions should be informed at once, in order that he may have an opportunity, if time allows, of serving a supplementary notice.
10. The consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions, and the notice to the Court, are presumed by the Court to have been duly given, unless objection is taken on behalf of the prisoner. When such objection is taken, the Director's consent can be proved by the solicitor or the officer of Police who obtained it, or by anyone who may have become acquainted by correspondence or otherwise with the Director's signature; the notice to the proper officer of the Court and the date of its receipt by him can be proved by the evidence of such officer or of some person in his office. The notice to the prisoner may be proved by the production of a copy thereof by the person who served it.
11. It is important to bear in mind that if evidence is given at the trial to the effect that the prisoner is an associate of thieves and persons of bad character or any other material matter with regard to his criminal record which does not appear on the notice handed to the prisoner, the conviction of being an habitual criminal is liable to be quashed on appeal. A police officer should, therefore, in giving evidence be careful not to allude to facts not included in the notice and if he is asked questions calculated to bring out such matters, he should point out to the Court that they are not included in the notice.
12. An Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions may, by Section 1 (5) of the Act 8 Ed. VII Ch. 3, do any act or thing which the Director is required or authorised to do.
(B 3,85$)
B 3
40