1964_COMPLEX_COMMERCIAL_CRIMES_ORDINANCE — Page 8

}

1988 Ed.]

Complex Commercial Crimes

[CAP. 394

7

Commencement of trial

11. If a judge orders a preparatory hearing to be held the trial shall commence with that hearing.

Plea

12. At the commencement of a preparatory hearing the indictment shall be read over to the accused, and explained to him if necessary; the accused may plead to the indictment at that time or may defer his plea but he shall, unless he has already done so, be required to plead to the indictment before the jury is empanelled.

Service of prosecution case statement and other documents by prosecutor

13. (1) After the indictment has been read over to the accused and the accused has been given the opportunity of pleading thereto under section 12, the judge may order the prosecutor to serve on the accused and deliver to the court the following documents-

(a) a statement containing-

(i) · a concise account of the facts; and

(ii) the inferences sought to be drawn from those facts,

on which the prosecution case is based (a “prosecution case statement");

(b) copies of the statements of the witnesses (including expert witnesses) whom the prosecutor intends to call at the trial after the jury has been empanelled;

(c) a list of exhibits, and copies of any documentary exhibits, that the prosecutor intends to have produced at the trial after the jury has been empanelled;

(d) a statement of any proposition of law specifically applicable to the

prosecution case on which the prosecutor proposes to rely; and

(e) any other explanatory document the judge considers appropriate.

(2) The prosecutor may amend the prosecution case statement before the jury is empanelled-

(a) without the leave of the judge, before the accused has served and

delivered a defence response under section 16;

(b) only with the leave of the judge, after the accused has served and

delivered a defence response under section 16.

(3) The judge shall not grant leave under subsection (2) unless he is satisfied-

(a) that the need for the amendment to the prosecution case statement arises from circumstances beyond the control of the prosecutor which could not have been foreseen at the time the original prosecution case statement was served and delivered; and

(b) that it is in the interests of justice that such leave should be granted.

t