Only a child, juvenile or young person (age to be determined at the date of commencement of the hearing of the charge) may be brought before the Youth Court to be tried for an offence.
The Act provides that “no child or young person [i.e. nobody under 16 years of age] shall be charged with or tried for any offence by court of summary jurisdiction except a Juvenile Court”, unless:
He is jointly charged with another person who is 16 years of age or above
He is charged with any offence triable only by the High Court, and (a) the Public Prosecutor has not applied to the Youth Court to try such offence or (b), if the Public Prosecutor has made such an application, the legal representative of the child/young person has not consented to the offence being tried by the Youth Court.