The Ad­min­is­tra­tion of Jus­tice (In­dictable Pro­ceed­ings) Bill, 2011, which is cur­rent­ly be­ing de­bat­ed in the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives, would re­peal and re­place the In­dictable Of­fences (Pre­lim­i­nary En­quiry) Act, Chap. 12:01. It pro­vides for a sys­tem of pre-tri­al pro­ceed­ings where wit­ness state­ments would be ad­mit­ted and con­sid­ered by a Mas­ter of the High Court. The Mas­ter would con­duct an ini­tial hear­ing to ad­dress pre­lim­i­nary is­sues re­lat­ing to the iden­ti­fi­ca­tion of the ac­cused, bail and le­gal rep­re­sen­ta­tion for the ac­cused. The Mas­ter would then con­duct a suf­fi­cien­cy hear­ing to de­ter­mine whether a pri­ma fa­cie case has been made out against an ac­cused.

If a pri­ma fa­cie case is made out, the Mas­ter would or­der that the ac­cused be put on tri­al be­fore a Judge and ju­ry. The Bill does not pro­vide for cross ex­am­i­na­tion at the suf­fi­cien­cy hear­ing, but al­lows no case sub­mis­sions to be made, fol­low­ing which the Mas­ter would re­view the wit­ness state­ments, doc­u­men­tary ev­i­dence and no case sub­mis­sions and de­ter­mine whether an ac­cused should be put on tri­al. The Bill con­tains pro­vi­sions, which is be­ing pi­lot­ed through Par­lia­ment by Jus­tice Min­is­ter Her­bert Vol­ney, needs to be passed by a spe­cial three-fifths ma­jor­i­ty. Among oth­er things, it pro­vides for an ini­tial hear­ing where­by pre­lim­i­nary is­sues re­lat­ing to the iden­ti­fi­ca­tion of an ac­cused, bail and le­gal rep­re­sen­ta­tion for the ac­cused, would be ad­dressed. The Bill al­so gives the Di­rec­tor of Pub­lic Pros­e­cu­tions the dis­cre­tion to re­quire that cer­tain in­dictable of­fences be dealt with sum­mar­i­ly.