Initiating proceedings

The process for initiating proceedings requires for the charge to be laid on the information or complaint. If the offence is a serious offence that the officer must swore on oath before a magistrate or JP and an warrant will be issued.  Where the offence is not serious then the person may not be requires to give oath and a summon will be issue requesting the person to appear before court. The particulars will usually include the date and place of the alleged offence as well as the act complained of in succinct terms.  indictable matters start in the Magistrate court where a preliminary enquiry is done to determine if there was a prima facie case. The accused is not required to plea.A complaint or Count may be defective for variety of reasons which include: 1 duplicity; 2 inaccuracies in date or place which do not conform with the evidence; 3 the defendant, victim or other named party in the charge is incorrectly named; 4 the incorrect value of an item is stated; 5 the wrong statute  is cite or incorrectly named or the wrong  section is stipulated. Amendment MAG COURT s 212-  the court should permit an adjournment where there is a variance btw the evidence and the information/complaint , any defect in it in substance or in form which ahs misled the accused.  the accused must be given an aopportunity to be heard so- Julian v R  ( breaking and entering  the purpose of the offence was not statement). Held the amendment was at a late stage which impaired the accused right to be heard  if the amendment prejudice the accused it must be proven like the accused has a different case to answer.   the court has to determine if the prejudice can be cured     Duplicity An offence is duplicitious where the complaint in a summary matter has more than one offence (summary matters) In indictable matters every count must have one offence; however an indictment can  contain many counts. a duplicitious charge will be prejudicious to the accused because he cant plea guilty to one offence  and not the other.   must be minor. In Barbados it is more restricted see Conliffe v Weeks ( not applicable for indictable matters)

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