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Appendix A

Crimes Act 1961: Sections 357–359

357 Special pleas–

(1) The following special pleas, and no others, may be pleaded according to the provisions hereinafter contained – that is to say, a plea of previous acquittal, a plea of previous conviction, and a plea of pardon.

(2) All other grounds of defence may be relied on under the plea of not guilty.

(3) The pleas of previous acquittal, or previous conviction, and pardon may be pleaded together, and if pleaded shall be disposed of by the Judge, without a jury, before the accused is called on to plead further; and, if every such plea is disposed of against the accused, he shall be allowed to plead not guilty.

(4) In any plea of previous acquittal or previous conviction it shall be sufficient for the accused to state that he has been lawfully acquitted or convicted, as the case may be, of the offence charged in the count or counts to which that plea is pleaded.

358 Pleas of previous acquittal and conviction–

(1) On the trial of an issue on a plea of previous acquittal or conviction to any count, if it appears that the matter on which the accused was formerly charged is the same in whole or in part as that on which it is proposed to give him in charge, and that he might on the former trial, if all proper amendments had been made that might then have been made, have been convicted of all the offences of which he may be convicted on any count to which that plea is pleaded, the Court shall give judgment that he be discharged from that count.

(2) If it appears that the accused might on the former trial have been convicted of any offence of which he might be convicted on the count to which that plea is pleaded, but that he may be convicted on that count of some offence of which he could not have been convicted on the former trial, the Court shall direct that he shall not be convicted on that count of any offence of which he might have been convicted on the former trial, but that he shall plead over as to any other offence charged.

359 Second accusation–

(1) Where an indictment charges substantially the same offence as that with which the accused was formerly charged, but adds a statement of intention or circumstances of aggravation tending if proved to increase the punishment, the previous acquittal or conviction shall be a bar to the indictment.

(2) A previous conviction or acquittal on an indictment for murder or manslaughter or infanticide shall be a bar to a second indictment for the same homicide charging it as any one of those crimes.

(3) If on the trial of an issue on a plea of previous acquittal or conviction to an indictment for murder or manslaughter or infanticide it appears that the former trial was for an offence against the person alleged to have been now killed, and that the death of that person is now alleged to have been caused by the offence previously charged, but that the death happened after the trial on which the accused was acquitted or convicted, as the case may be, then, if it appears that on the former trial the accused might if convicted have been sentenced to imprisonment for 3 years or upwards, the Court shall direct that the accused be discharged from the indictment before it. If it does not so appear the Court shall direct that he plead over.