The Prosecution or the Prosecutor is the organisation or the person who brings a charge before the Court in the first place.
There are a number of different organisations who prosecute cases.
In the general run of the mill District Court, the Prosecution is almost always handled by an experienced and trained Police Sergeant.
Each area in New Zealand has a Prosecuting Division based in a nearby larger centre.
For example, in Otago, the District Court Police Prosecutors are based in Dunedin and they appear in the Dunedin Court every day and travel to the Oamaru, Balclutha and Alexandra District Courts on a regular two weekly basis.
The Queenstown Court is also in the Otago Province but prosecutions in that Court are handled by the Division of Prosecutors in Invercargill attached to the Invercargill Police.
NetLaw believes all of these Prosecutors are approachable and can be contacted quite easily.
Do not be frightened to ring up and make an appointment if there is something about your case you wish to discuss, particularly if you want to get across your point of view or your claim of innocence.
You might simply want to obtain some information from your file because you are entitled to a copy of your file under the Official Information Act.
You simply have to contact the Police Prosecutions and ask them although it is far better to put such a request in writing.
See our specialist site entitled Official Information Act 1982 and also visit all of our related topics in the boxes at the top and the bottom of this page.
If you are charged with a more serious offence then, although the Police originally "lay the information" or bring the charge against you in the first place, the Prosecution is then handled by the Crown Solicitor.
There are a number of Crown Solicitors up and down the country and they are attached to generally larger firms of lawyers. They are responsible for heading the Prosecution for more serious charges.
There is a Crown Prosecutor in Invercargill which deals with the Southland District.
There is a Crown Solicitor in Dunedin which deals with the whole Otago Province (except Queenstown) and there is a Crown Solicitor in Christchurch which deals with the Canterbury regions including the West Coast.
The Nelson area is covered by the Crown Solicitor-
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