Some detail is given on the Information, such as the date, time and place of the alleged offence, details of the offence and the legislation that creates the offence.

When the Information is filed with the court, a summary of allegations and the defendant’s antecedent report (information about previous criminal offending) must also be filed [Joint Criminal Rules 2022 (SA) r 62.3]. These forms must also be served on the defendant [r 62.4].

A defendant or the defendant’s lawyer may by written notice request better particulars of a count in an Information. For further details on this process, and time limits that apply, see Joint Criminal Rules 2022 (SA) rule 64A.1.