Arrangements for Adelaide Youth Court from 4 April 2022

THE YOUTH COURT OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA 

The Adelaide Youth Court has a responsibility to protect judiciary, staff, and court users. The Adelaide Youth Court has a high volume of traffic in court buildings and many people attending court are particularly vulnerable members of our community.

COVID restrictions can mitigate that risk whilst we continue to deliver essential Youth Court services.

Effective 4 April 2022

• Entry to the Youth Court building is restricted to court users and media with business with the court where possible.
• Court users are encouraged to attend court alone, or with only one support person, rather than multiple family members and friends.
• Rather than attending the Adelaide Youth Court building in person for enquiries, court users and media should telephone or email the Contact Centre.

• Prosecution and Crown are expected to appear in person.
• Parties and practitioners are expected to attend court in person.
• Youths in custody will appear remotely (via AVL, telephone or webex)

• All documents should be submitted to the court electronically, including written submissions. These documents must be submitted to the Court at least 24 hours prior to the hearing.
• Requests for an adjournment in the criminal jurisdiction must be submitted to the Court at least 24 hours prior to the hearing.

• Youths in custody will appear by AVL.

• Conferencing Unit meetings may be conducted by phone or WebEx if parties agree.
• Conferencing Unit Circuits will be reviewed and may be conducted by AVL.
• External bookings for court facilities will be cancelled.

Note:  Where reference to appearing remotely is made in this document, please note that this is dependent on the availability of technology and may not be available at all locations.

COVID SAFETY INITIATIVES

• Sheriff’s Officers ask a list of predetermined questions to all court users at Point of Entry.
• COVID SAfe Check-In is required when entering court buildings.
• Masks are available for court users.
• Hand Sanitiser is provided at Point of Entry, lifts and courtrooms.
• COVID signage is posted to support social distancing.
• Important COVID-19 information is posted on the CourtSA website.

These measures will be in operation until further notice. They may be revised as new public health announcements are made.

ATTENDANCE AT COURT BUILDINGS

Parties and practitioners are not to come to the Court, if they have:

• • been tested for COVID-19 and are awaiting results, or
  • been directed to isolate or quarantine by SA Health, or
  • are experiencing symptoms – a fever or chills (with no alternative illness that explains these symptoms), cough, sore throat, runny nose, shortness of breath or loss of taste and smell.

Masks must be worn in court building including courtrooms and waiting rooms.  However, persons speaking for a long period may be excused and the mask can be removed.

The requirement to appear in court may be excused in certain circumstances. If you do not intend to appear because you honestly and reasonably believe you should self-isolate, you should do the following to support any application you may later wish to make to be excused from your appearing:

Criminal Jurisdiction

• Contact CourtSA by email enquiry@courts.sa.gov.auor phone 8204 2444 to advise the Court or the Youth Court directly by email youthcourt@courts.sa.gov.au or phone 8204 0331
• Contact your Department of Human Services (DHS) case worker
• If you are represented, tell your lawyer.
• Contact SA Police (Youth Prosecution) by telephone.
• Obtain a certificate from your doctor.
• If you are already at the court building, seek assistance from Sheriff’s Officers to complete a Proof of Attendance Contact Details form.

Care and Protection Jurisdiction

• Contact CourtSA by email enquiry@courts.sa.gov.auor phone 8204 2444 or the Youth Court directly by email youthcourt@courts.sa.gov.au or phone 8204 0331 at least 24 hours prior to the hearing
• Contact your Department for Child Protection (DCP) case worker
• If you are represented, tell your lawyer
• If possible, advise the other party(s)
• Obtain a certificate from your doctor and provide it to the court
• If you are already at the court building, seek assistance from Sheriff’s Officers to complete a Proof of Attendance Contact Details form.

• Adoption Jurisdiction
• Surrogacy Jurisdiction 

• Contact CourtSA by email enquiry@courts.sa.gov.auor phone 8204 2444 or the Youth Court directly by email youthcourt@courts.sa.gov.au or phone 8204 0331 at least 24 hours prior to the hearing
• If you are represented, tell your lawyer
• If possible, advise the other party(s)
• Obtain a certificate from your doctor and provide it to the court
• If you are already at the court building, seek assistance from Sheriff’s Officers to complete a Proof of Attendance Contact Details form.

If a party or practitioner has a condition that makes them vulnerable to infection and for that reason does not feel safe attending at the Court, they may seek leave to appear remotely. See Requests to appear remotely via AVL or telephone

Court users should allow extra time to be processed through point of entry security when entering court buildings due to social distancing measures.

Court users are not to approach Court staff and must always maintain a minimum distance from others of 1.5 metres.

Court users must wear a masks whilst moving around court buildings and whilst seated in public waiting areas and public galleries.

No documents are to be handed up in Court.

Where possible, parties should lodge documents via electronic means using the address: youthcourt@courts.sa.gov.au

All emailed documents should be signed and lodged in PDF format with a maximum of 100 pages per document. Documents too large for email should be posted or lodged in a registry filing box located in a Youth Court building.

All documents including written submissions, must be submitted to the Court no later than 1 clear working day before the hearing.

Documents provided to the Registry in hard copy will be taken, sealed and returned the the party.  The documents will not be provided to the Court or placed on the file for 24 hours.

Parties and practitioners are reminded of the requirement that all parties must be copied into any email communication with the Court.

Parties are required to bring their own water as water jugs will not be provided in courtrooms and water fountains are unavailable.

Lecterns have been removed from all courtrooms. However, during trials and lengthy hearings they can be made available upon request to in-court staff.

Hand sanitiser will be provided at the following locations in every courtroom

• • Bench
  • Judicial Support Table
  • Bar Table
  • Witness Box
  • Sheriff’s Officer table

Listing Arrangements

Listing arrangements have not been modified.

The Court asks to be notified of any parties who are at high risk of serious illness should they be exposed to COVID-19 and will give priority to those matters where possible.

For overnight arrest matters.

• • Prosecution is to provide an Information with an apprehension report attached so that defence can obtain instructions quickly, and
  • All youths will appear by AVL.

Youths in custody will appear by AVL or telephone.

Parties are also encouraged to put together an agreed statement of facts when a matter is to be called on for a plea where possible.

Requests to appear remotely (AVL, Webex or Telephone)

Prosecution and Crown are expected to appear in person.

Parties and practitioners are expected to attend court in person.

The request to appear remotely must be made at least 2 days prior to the scheduled hearing by emailing youthcourt@courts.sa.gov.au.

Any request to appear remotely will be at the discretion of the presiding Magistrate or Judge. The Registry will advise the solicitor/ party of the outcome of the request no later than the day before the hearing.

Where a request is made for permission to appear remotely by AVL or telephone, the requests must include state the reason for the request.

When submitting a request to appear remotely the practitioner or party must:

• • provide a direct landline or mobile telephone number,
  • provide an accurate email address (for AVL/Webex)
  • ensure that they are available to answer the telephone,
  • understand that the telephone call may be made at any time during the relevant list,
  • understand that if the telephone call is not answered, the matter will be dealt with in a manner that the relevant Judicial Officer deems appropriate and
  • understand that it is up to the practitioner to inform themselves of the outcome.

AVL is limited to 3 lines for connection.

WebEx may be used to facilitate hearings. When used, the court will email a meeting request to parties. Parties join the hearing by clicking on the button in the email if they have a device with a camera. Alternatively, they can join by telephone using the details provided in the email. It is important that solicitors or parties ensure they make themselves available from the appointed time, bearing in mind that the court may not always call at that exact time.

Administrative Adjournments – First Mention

For a police prosecution, any request for an adjournment by a youth or counsel on the first mention will be allowed administratively, so long as that request includes confirmation of the consent of the other party, provided that the request is submitted to Registry no later than 2 working days before the day of the hearing.

For a prosecution by any other prosecuting authority, any request by a youth or counsel for an adjournment on the first mention will be allowed administratively, so long as that request includes confirmation of the consent of the other party, and the request is submitted to Registry no less than 2 working days prior to the day of the hearing.

For a police or other prosecuting authority prosecution where there are multiple youths, a request for an administrative adjournment will not be allowed unless it is made by all youths.

Where applicable, the parties will be advised of the new date by registry.

Contact Details for the Youth Court

Adelaide Youth Court Registry Details

75 Wright Street, Adelaide SA 5000

Email: youthcourt@courts.sa.gov.au

Phone: (08) 8204 0331

Suburban and Country Youth Court Locations:

Phone: 8204 2444

Judge P Eldridge
Youth Court Judge