Just wondering?

johntom

Just wondering if you can be charged with a minor offence without being arrested or brought to a garda station? I often hear of people who just get their details taken in the street and are summonsed to court. Where do the charges come into it? Do they not get a charge sheet?

angeline

You can be prosecuted either by being summonsed to court or being arrested and charged. You do not have to be arrested to receive a summons or a fixed penalty.

johntom

Yes but what I mean is are you charged as soon as your details are taken even if you're not brought to the station or are you charged when you receive the summons and what happens if your details are taken but you receive no summons?

coylemj

The term being 'charged' with an offence usually refers to the process that happens in a Garda station after you have been arrested and the allegation of having committed the offences (the 'charges') are put to you by the Garda reading out the charges from a Charge Sheet, this document will end up in front of the judge when you appear in court.

If your details are taken but you are not arrested and you never receive a summons then you have not been charged with anything and the only record of the incident will probably be in the Garda's notebook.

johntom

And pulse?