- (b) a charge made jointly against a child or young person and a person who has attained the age of 16 years shall be heard by a court of appropriate jurisdiction other than a Juvenile Court; or
- (c) where in the course of any proceedings before any court of appropriate jurisdiction other than a Juvenile Court, it appears that the person to whom the proceedings relate is a child or young person, nothing in this section shall be construed as preventing the court, if it thinks fit to do so, from proceeding with the hearing and determination of the proceedings.
(2) A Juvenile Court shall have jurisdiction to try all offences which, but for subsection (1), would be triable only by a Magistrate’s Court or a District Court.
(3) A person who has attained the age of 16 years on the date of commencement of the hearing of the charge shall not be tried for any offence by a Juvenile Court but where in the course of any trial before a Juvenile Court the child or young person to whom the trial relates attains the age of 16 years, nothing in this subsection shall prevent the Court from proceeding, if it thinks fit, with the trial.
(4) Where on the commencement of this Act, a trial relating to a person who has attained the age of 16 years has commenced before a Juvenile Court, the Court may proceed, if it thinks fit, with the trial.
Place of sitting and persons who may be present
34.—(1) A Juvenile Court shall sit as often as may be necessary for the purpose of exercising any jurisdiction conferred on it by this or any other Act.
(2) A Juvenile Court shall sit either in a different building or room from that in which sittings of courts other than Juvenile Courts are held, or on different days from those on which sittings of the other courts are held, and no person shall be present at any sitting of a Juvenile Court except—
- (a) members and officers of the Court;
