Observation of Criminal Law Case in Australian Magistrates Court

Running head: CRIMINAL LAW
CRIMINAL LAW
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1CRIMINAL LAW
Introduction:
For the purposes of the report, visits have been made to an Australian court to observe
and understand the proceedings of a case before it. It contains the description of the court
attended for observing the court matters. This type of court visit is very important and crucial for
the law students in order to understand the system of working of the Australian Court through
actual observation of the court proceedings. The case that has been observed is described
together with other information like court room description, conduct of the parties and others.
1. The court that I have visited for the purpose of this report is the Magistrates Court Richland at
around 10 am of 3rd April of 2019 (Richlandcountysc.gov, 2019). I was there for around 5 hours
and returned from it at around 3pm. The Magistrates Court in Australia is the first level of the
State Courts and it hears and adjudicates most of the civil and criminal matters whose pecuniary
value is less than $150,000. Almost 90 percent of the legal disputes of Queensland are heard
before the Magistrates Court in the country. This category of courts deal has the jurisdiction to
deal with summary offences. It also determines whether a person accused and charged with a
criminal offence must face a trial. If the answer is affirmative, it also decides which court will
hear the case.
2. The matter of dispute that I observed in the court was the case of a young Caucasian female
who was pleading guilty to the charge of uttering a forged cheque. When I entered in to the court
room, the hearing of the case has already started. The case was in the trial stage.
3. The matter of dispute was presided over by the Magistrate. The other persons that are present
in the court are a clerk, a prosecutor, two defence solicitors and two corrective services officers.

2CRIMINAL LAW
The clerk has the duty of recording the proceedings and calling the defendants to come to
the court. Out of the two solicitors, one of them appeared as the duty lawyer and he represented
the defendants. The prosecutor was the Police Officer and he represented the Crown. The two
service officers had the duty to accompany the prisoners and to be seated at the dock when the
prisoner was present. The defendant of the case usually sat in the public gallery of the court or
inside the waiting room.
4. When I entered in to the court, the case was at the trial stage. The defendant is a Caucasian
lady and she pleaded guilty before the magistrate. As per the summary of facts by the police, the
bank manager of the Bank of Queensland called the police. The bank teller had identified that the
cheque tendered by the Defendant 1 had a fraudulent signature. After searching the bag carried
by her, the police found another cheque with the same fraudulent signature. The two cheques
were in sequential order. The defendant confessed before the police that time that she knew she
had done an offence by making fraudulent signature (Police 2019). Moreover, she had done it
from her own free will. The prosecutor tendered the entire history of the lady.
The defence solicitor then addressed the magistrate with due respect that a probational
order and community service to be considered while adjudicating her case. Then, he also told the
magistrate that certain incidents had occurred in her client’s life which resulted into mental
health problems and hence she was under very high dose of medicines. He supported this fact by
submitting current prescription of psychiatrists who was doing her treatment. The defendant also
said that she needed to socialize more and was desperate to get out of her present
accommodation condition. For changing accommodation, she needed huge money due to which
she sought to use fraudulent signatures to procure more money.