Acting as an accessory

There is no general duty to voluntarily report a crime, and it is not a criminal offence to refuse to answer police questions (other than in the circumstances set out in this chapter).

Under s 241 of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 (SA), it is an offence to act as an accessory to an offender by:

To be found guilty, a person must take some positive action knowing or believing that another person has committed an offence. Lying to police about a material fact may amount to impeding an investigation but merely exercising a lawful right to refuse police questions is not an offence.

It is not an offence for certain professionals (for example, a lawyer, doctor or minister of religion) to give certain information or assistance to an offender as professional privilege may apply as long as it is not in the furtherance of a crime.

The maximum penalty for acting as an accessory will be determined by the penalty applicable to the principal offence.

The maximum penalty may be less if the accessory understood the principal offender to have committed a different offence to the one it is established they committed [s 241(4)].

Bail guarantors

A person who guarantees a suspect’s bail, and who knows (or reasonably suspects) that the suspect has breached a condition of their bail agreement, must take reasonable steps to inform the police, or risk having to pay some or all of the amount guaranteed and may also be charged and fined [Bail Act 1985 s 17A]. The maximum penalty for failing to report a suspected bail breach is a fine of $1,250.