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LIV rejects move to abolish committal hearings as ‘flagrant insult’
The major Victorian legal body has rejected calls to abolish committal hearings, noting it will undermine fundamental rights in the criminal justice system.
Naomi Neilson
The Law Institute of Victoria (LIV) said abolishing committal hearings will only serve to exacerbate trial delays in the higher courts by making pre-trial processes significantly longer and increasing the number of cases that proceed to trial.
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Victoria Police and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is attempting to push the state government into abolishing the committal hearing system, claiming hearings drag on for weeks and are abused by defence lawyers as a “fishing exercise”.
The LIV took issue with this term, with LIV Criminal Law Section Executive Committee co-chair Melinda Walker rejecting claims that defence just wants the opportunity “to try and manufacture inconsistent statements from witnesses”.
Defence lawyers must obtain permission from courts to be granted cross-examination of a prosecution witness at a committal hearing by identifying each issue on which the charge is defended and justifying the relevance of the cross-examination to the issue.
Ms Walker added: “To suggest a manipulation of the court process and any witnesses evidence by defence lawyers is simply unfounded.”
According to data from the LIV, committal proceedings are more likely to resolve their matters before they go to higher courts, with 2017-18 research showing 79.4 per cent of pleas were achieved through committal proceedings.
The Victorian Law Reform Commission is conducting a review of the committal system which is not due to report until March. In its submission, the LIV said the hearings are integral to fair criminal proceedings.
“Committal hearings enable both the prosecution and defence to determine relevance and admissibility of evidence gathered during the course of a police investigation,” the submission noted. “Additionally, the court is able to identify those charges where there is insufficient evidence to convict the accused at trial.”
LIV Criminal Law Section Executive Committee member and Victorian defence lawyer Tim Freeman said committal hearings are tightly regulating proceedings that regularly occupy no more than a few days in court, and often no more than one day.
“Even murder committals, where the subsequent trial may go for over a month in the Supreme Court, will often occupy less than a week of court time at the committal stage but the benefits gained may save many days of pre-trial argument in the higher court,” he said.
“Indeed, often the committal process can resolve a criminal proceeding in its entirety.”
