Where a person is charged with a minor indictable or major indictable offence, there are specific documents which must be provided to them (or their lawyer) on or before their first appearance in the Magistrates Court.

These documents are:

See Criminal Procedure Act 1921 (SA) section 105, Criminal Procedure (General) Regulations 2017 reg 4(1).

During the first appearance in the Magistrates Court, the police prosecutor will inform the court of the period of time they will require to prepare a preliminary brief that is, material relating to the matter such as witness statements and other materials [Criminal Procedure Act 1921 (SA) s 106]. This brief is provided to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to enable them to make a charge determination , i.e. to decide what appropriate charge(s) (if any) to proceed with.

As soon as practicable after providing the preliminary brief to the DPP, the police prosecutor must also provide a copy of the brief to the defendant (or their lawyer) and must file the brief with the Magistrates Court [s 106(1)(c)]. The preliminary brief must be in the prescribed form for an evidentiary material brief (if served in electronic form - Form 71e; if served in physical (had copy) form - Form 71H) [Joint Criminal Rules r 82.1(1)].

A defendant can call the matter on in the Magistrates Court at this stage to plead guilty to the offence(s) as charged. In these circumstances the Magistrates Court can either determine and impose a sentence on the defendant, or commit the defendant to a higher court for sentencing [Criminal Procedure Act 1921 (SA) s 108(2)]. In these instances, the matter does not have to proceed through the committal process. This procedure is available to a defendant, regardless of whether the Director of Public Prosecutions has made a determination as to the appropriate charge or charges to be proceeded with in relation to the information charging the major indictable offence [s 108(3)].

It is always advisable to obtain legal advice before entering a plea at any stage of proceedings.

In pre-committal proceedings, a subpoena can only be issued by a Registrar only in specific circumstances - see section 107 of the Criminal Procedure Act 1921 (SA). In any other instance, a magistrate must determine an application for a subpoena [s 107(b)]. An application under section 107(b) of the Criminal Procedure Act for issue of a subpoena to produce must be made by an interlocutory application in the approved form or by oral application at a hearing [Joint Criminal Rules 2022 r 123.1(6)].