(1)  If –

(a) a person is charged with a family violence offence (the first charge ) in a court of summary jurisdiction but is acquitted because the prosecution has informed the court that it will not be offering any evidence in support of the charge; and

(b) the person is charged with another family violence offence (the second charge ), whether in a court of summary jurisdiction or on indictment –

that acquittal does not prevent the admission, in a hearing on the second charge, of first charge evidence as evidence of the relationship between the person and another person, tendency evidence or coincidence evidence.

(2)  In this section –

coincidence evidence has the same meaning as in the Evidence Act 2001 ;

first charge evidence means evidence that could have been offered by the prosecution in a hearing on the first charge;

tendency evidence has the same meaning as in the Evidence Act 2001 .