The making of a guardianship order under the Guardianship and Management of Property Act 1991 (ACT) with powers limited to legal issues does not of itself render a person unfit to plead under s 311(1)(f) of the Crimes Act 1900 (ACT). The Taylor propositions adopted by Gleeson CJ in Eastman, which narrow the circumstances in which unfitness to plead may be found, apply to the current ACT statutory test in s 311. The ACT statutory test does not set a lower threshold for unfitness to plead than the Presser test. Expert evidence on fitness to plead must address the legal criteria rather than conflating fitness to plead with criminal responsibility under s 28 of the Criminal Code 2002 (ACT).
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 8 later cases that cite this judgment.
2 of the 8 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.