Criminal Litigation

Although the youth court has an inherent jurisdiction to stay proceedings as an abuse of process at any stage, that jurisdiction is limited to matters directly affecting the fairness of the trial of the particular defendant concerned, and should only be exercised in exceptional circumstances, on the ground of one or more of the capacity issues, before any evidence is heard.

The fact that a person has previously been held unfit to plead does not make it an abuse to try that person for subsequent criminal acts; rather, the issue of the child’s ability to participate effectively has to be decided afresh. The court has a duty to keep under continuing review the question of whether the trial ought to continue. If at any stage the court concludes that the child is unable to participate effectively in the trial, it may decide to halt the trial.

However, the court might consider that it is in the interests of the child that the trial should