Turks and Caicos Islands
Alternative Sentencing (Breach Proceedings) Rules
Government Notice 1013 of 2021
- Published in The Gazette - Turks and Caicos Islands 79 on 12 November 2021
- Assented to on 10 November 2021
- Commenced on 15 November 2021
- [This is the version of this document from 12 November 2021.]
Commencing breach proceedings
1.
Every person responsible for the enforcement of orders available to a court under the Alternative Sentencing Ordinance 2019, shall ensure that their duties are carried out with diligence and utmost care, and that the outcome is timely, proportionate, defensible, reasonable and promotes effective risk management and the rehabilitation of offenders.2.
Where a person subject to any of the orders available to a court under the Alternative Sentencing Ordinance 2019, breaches the order or in any manner, whether wholly or in part fails to comply with the order, the Responsible Officer shall explore ways to address the issue, including, but not limited to:3.
Breach proceedings may not generally be commenced against an offender unless the offender fails to comply with the court’s order on at least two separate occasions within a twelve-month period.Provided that breach proceedings may be commenced against an offender if the incident is of such seriousness that the Responsible Officer determines that a report ought to be made to the court.4.
Where the Responsible Officer is satisfied that the conditions in paragraph 3 are met he shall take steps to commence breach proceedings without delay.5.
Breach proceedings shall commence with the filing of an application at the Registry of the Supreme Court or with the Clerk of the Magistrate’s Court.6.
The application may be filed by the Responsible Officer or by counsel.The application
7.
The application to be filed must be accompanied with the following:The Breach Report
8.
A Breach Report shall be sworn before a Justice of the Peace and shall contain the following information where applicable:Administrative arrangements
9.
The Registrar or Clerk of the Magistrate’s Court (as the case may be), shall cause a summons to issue no later than two days after the application is filed.10.
Service of the summons shall be effected along with accompanying documents by the Police without delay, and in any event, not more than three days of the filing of the process, or in the case of urgency, not more than thirty-six hours of the filing of the process.11.
The Registrar/Clerk of Court (as the case may be) shall assign a hearing date which shall be no more than five days of the date of filing, or three days in cases of urgency.The hearing
12.
On the return date, the court may set directions at the first hearing or proceed to deal with the matter:Relevant evidence
13.
The relevant evidence for the breach of a probation order or order for suspended sentence shall include:Considerations
14.
Before the court shall make an order in respect of a proven breach of its orders requiring supervision, it may have regard to any of the following:15. Sanctions
Where the breach is in respect of:16. Offences that constitute violations
Failure to abide by specific court order within the time frame set by the court, offences considered to be serious by the Responsible Officer, and repeated minor infractions may constitute breaches, but in every case, the following conduct by persons subject to the court’s orders shall be deemed to be breaches of the court’s orders for being inconsistent therewith:17. Other circumstances
Absconding offender
18.
The court shall issue a warrant which shall be executed without delay for an offender who having been served with a summons to appear before the court, fails to appear.19.
The court may also issue a warrant, where the Responsible Officer provides a sworn statement of the offender’s conduct that leads him to the reasonable conclusion that he is evading service or execution of the warrant.20.
Where a warrant is issued but the offender cannot be located within five days of the warrant’s issue, the matter shall be reported to the court.21.
Where the court is satisfied that the offender has evaded service of the order as well as the execution warrant of arrest, it may proceed to deal with the matter in accordance with the applicable provision of the Alternative Sentencing Ordinance 2019.Repeated breaches
22.
Where an offender against whom the court makes an order for breach of its order continues to commit further breaches, the Responsible Officer shall provide a breach report duly sworn before a Justice of the Peace.23.
The breach report produced under rule 22, shall be filed at the Registry of the Supreme Court or before the Clerk of the Magistrate’s Court (as the case may be) for it to be placed before the court without the need for a further application.24.
The court shall issue a warrant for the offender’s arrest.25.
The offender shall be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of the Alternative Sentencing Ordinance as applicable.History of this document
15 November 2021
Commenced
12 November 2021 this version
Published in The Gazette - Turks and Caicos Islands 79
10 November 2021
Assented to