Plea and Preparation…

Welcome to week 14 of the court visit breakdown!

Here is your backstory:

• This was a simple plea and preparation hearing

• This is where the court put forward to the defendant the crimes they have been charged with, and they provide their plea of guilty or not guilty.

For this specific case the defendant had been charged with multiple counts of possession and intent to supply drugs. This included ketamine, cocaine and marijuana.

With both prosecution and defence present, the court clerk introduced the defendant by checking the correct identification and continued by reading out the charges. The defendant plead guilty to possession of all those drugs, however, he plead not guilty to the intent to supply them.

This led the court to prepare, specifically as to when the defendant’s trial will take place. The judge and counsel deliberated this and concluded that the trial will be from July 2027 onwards. The judge subsequently instructed the defendant that it will be his responsibility to find out which court his trial will be at and what time. If he fails to turn up, then the trial can proceed without him.

This was the end of this hearing today. Although it is a short blog post, I felt it was equally as important to understand what happens right at the very beginning, and quite interesting to see how the defendant will plead and when that opportunity arises.

See you next week for week 15!