Sentencing Act 2017

Subject to the exceptions set out in subsection (2), a defendant who is to be sentenced for an indictable offence must be present when the sentence is imposed and throughout all proceedings relevant to the determination of sentence.

The following exceptions apply:

the defendant may, with the court's consent, be absent during the whole or part of the proceedings;

if facilities exist for dealing with proceedings by means of an audio visual link or audio link, the court may, if of the opinion that it is appropriate in the circumstances to do so, deal with the proceedings by audio visual link or audio link without requiring the personal attendance of the defendant, provided that, in the case of a defendant who is not in custody, the defendant has consented to the use of the link;

the court may exclude the defendant from the courtroom if satisfied that the exclusion is necessary in the interests of safety or for the orderly conduct of the proceedings (however, if such an exclusion is made, the court should (if practicable) make arrangements to enable the defendant to see and hear the proceedings by audio visual link).

If the defendant is a body corporate, the requirement is satisfied by the presence of a director or some other representative of the body corporate satisfactory to the court (but, in that case, either the prosecutor or the court may waive the requirement).

A court may make any order necessary to secure compliance with this section and, if necessary, issue a warrant to have the defendant (or, if the defendant is a body corporate, a director or other representative of the defendant) arrested and brought before the court.

This section—

does not prevent the passing of sentence in the absence of the defendant in a case where the defendant cannot be found; and

does not invalidate a sentence passed in the absence of the defendant.