Criminal Code (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-46)

Marginal note:Accused absconding during trial

• 475. (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, where an accused, whether or not he is charged jointly with another, absconds during the course of his trial,

  • (a) he shall be deemed to have waived his right to be present at his trial, and

  • (b) the court may

    • (i) continue the trial and proceed to a judgment or verdict and, if it finds the accused guilty, impose a sentence on him in his absence, or

    • (ii) if a warrant in Form 7 is issued for the arrest of the accused, adjourn the trial to await his appearance,

    but where the trial is adjourned pursuant to subparagraph (b)(ii), the court may, at any time, continue the trial if it is satisfied that it is no longer in the interests of justice to await the appearance of the accused.

• Marginal note:Adverse inference

  (2) Where a court continues a trial pursuant to subsection (1), it may draw an inference adverse to the accused from the fact that he has absconded.

• Marginal note:Accused not entitled to re-opening

  (3) Where an accused reappears at his trial that is continuing pursuant to subsection (1), he is not entitled to have any part of the proceedings that was conducted in his absence re-opened unless the court is satisfied that because of exceptional circumstances it is in the interests of justice to re-open the proceedings.

• Marginal note:Counsel for accused may continue to act

  (4) Where an accused has absconded during the course of his trial and the court continues the trial, counsel for the accused is not thereby deprived of any authority he may have to continue to act for the accused in the proceedings.

Special Jurisdiction

Marginal note:Special jurisdictions

476. For the purposes of this Act,

• (a) where an offence is committed in or on any water or on a bridge between two or more territorial divisions, the offence shall be deemed to have been committed in any of the territorial divisions;

• (b) where an offence is committed on the boundary of two or more territorial divisions or within five hundred metres of any such boundary, or the offence was commenced within one territorial division and completed within another, the offence shall be deemed to have been committed in any of the territorial divisions;

• (c) where an offence is committed in or on a vehicle employed in a journey, or on board a vessel employed on a navigable river, canal or inland water, the offence shall be deemed to have been committed in any territorial division through which the vehicle or vessel passed in the course of the journey or voyage on which the offence was committed, and where the center or other part of the road, or navigable river, canal or inland water on which the vehicle or vessel passed in the course of the journey or voyage is the boundary of two or more territorial divisions, the offence shall be deemed to have been committed in any of the territorial divisions;

• (d) where an offence is committed in an aircraft in the course of a flight of that aircraft, it shall be deemed to have been committed

  • (i) in the territorial division in which the flight commenced,

  • (ii) in any territorial division over which the aircraft passed in the course of the flight, or

  • (iii) in the territorial division in which the flight ended; and

• (e) where an offence is committed in respect of the mail in the course of its door-to-door delivery, the offence shall be deemed to have been committed in any territorial division through which the mail was carried on that delivery.