New South Wales Consolidated Acts

CRIMINAL PROCEDURE ACT 1986 - SECT 306U

306U Vulnerable person entitled to give evidence in chief in form of recording

(1) A vulnerable person is entitled to give, and may give, evidence in chief of a previous representation to which this Division applies made by the person wholly or partly in the form of a recording made by an investigating official of the interview in the course of which the previous representation was made and that is viewed or heard, or both, by the court. The vulnerable person must not, unless the person otherwise chooses, be present in the court, or be visible or audible to the court by closed-circuit television or by means of any similar technology, while it is viewing or hearing the recording.

(2) Subject to section 306Y, a person is entitled to give, and may give (no matter what age the person is when the evidence is given), evidence as referred to in subsection (1) in the form of a recording of a previous representation to which this Division applies made by the person when the person was less than 16 years of age.

Note : Under section 306Y, a court may order that a vulnerable person not give evidence in the form of a recording if it is satisfied that it is not in the interests of justice for the evidence to be given by a recording.

(3) If a vulnerable person who gives evidence as referred to in subsection (1) is not the accused person in the proceeding, the vulnerable person must subsequently be available for cross-examination and re-examination--

(a) orally in the courtroom, or

(b) if the evidence is given in any proceeding to which Division 4 applies--in accordance with alternative arrangements made under section 306W.

(4) Subsection (3) does not apply in relation to committal proceedings.

(5) Section 5BA of the Evidence (Audio and Audio Visual Links) Act 1998 does not apply to evidence given as referred to in subsection (1).