Sexual offences against child complainants and sexual offences against an adult complainant (here, the offender's wife) are not offences of the same or similar character for the purposes of joinder under the Criminal Procedure Act 2009 (Vic), even where the complainants are members of the same family and the offending is connected by threats. The prohibition on joinder of unrelated offences under cl 5(1) of Schedule 1 to the CPA cannot be waived by the accused, even where the accused's forensic strategy requires all charges to be heard together.
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