South Australian Consolidated Acts South Australian Consolidated Acts (1) The Coroner's
Court may, for the purposes of an inquest—
(a) by
summons, require the appearance before the inquest of any person; or
(b) by
summons, require the production of any relevant records or documents and, in
the case of a record or document that is not in the English language, require
the production of a written statement in the English language of the contents
of the record or document; or
(c)
inspect any records or documents produced before it, and retain them for such
reasonable period as it thinks fit, and make copies of the records or
documents or their contents; or
(d)
require any person to make an oath or affirmation to answer truthfully
questions put by the Court or by any person appearing before the Court; or
(e)
require any person appearing before the Court (whether summoned to appear or
not) to answer any questions put by the Court or by any person appearing
before the Court.
(2) If—
(a) a
person fails without reasonable excuse to comply with a summons to appear
before the Court; or
(b)
there are grounds for believing that, if such a summons were issued, a person
would not comply with it,
the Court may issue a warrant to have the person arrested and brought before
the Court.
(3) If a person who is
in custody has been summoned under this section to appear before the Court,
the manager of the place in which the person is being detained must cause the
person to be brought to the Court as required by the summons.
(4) A person
who—
(a)
fails, without reasonable excuse, to comply with a summons issued to appear,
or to produce records or documents, before the Court; or
(b)
having been served with a summons to produce a written statement of the
contents of a record or document in the English language fails, without
reasonable excuse, to comply with the summons or produces a statement that he
or she knows, or ought to know, is false or misleading in a material
particular; or
(c)
refuses to be sworn or to affirm, or refuses or fails to answer truthfully a
relevant question when required to do so by the Court; or
(d)
refuses to obey a lawful direction of the Court; or
(e)
misbehaves before the Court, wilfully insults the Court or interrupts the
proceedings of the Court,
commits a contempt of the Court.
(5) However, a person
is not required to answer a question, or to produce a record or document,
under this section if—
(a) the
answer to the question, or the contents of the record or document, would tend
to incriminate the person of an offence; or
(b)
answering the question, or producing the record or document, would result in a
breach of legal professional privilege.
(6) This section does
not derogate from Parts 7 and 8 of the Health Care Act 2008 .