New South Wales Consolidated Acts

CRIMINAL PROCEDURE ACT 1986 - SECT 83

83 Witnesses who cannot be directed to attend

(1) A direction may not be given so as to require the attendance of the complainant in committal proceedings for a prescribed sexual offence if the complainant is a cognitively impaired person (within the meaning of Part 6 of Chapter 6).

(2) A direction may not be given so as to require the attendance of the complainant in committal proceedings for a child sexual assault offence if the complainant--

(a) was under the age of 16 years--

(i) on the earliest date on which, or

(ii) at the beginning of the earliest period during which,

any child sexual assault offence to which the proceedings relate was allegedly committed, and

(b) is currently under the age of 18 years.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (2)--

"child sexual assault offence" means--

(a) a prescribed sexual offence, or

(b) an offence that, at the time it was committed, was a child sexual assault offence for the purposes of subsection (2), or

(c) an offence of attempting, or of conspiracy or incitement, to commit an offence referred to in paragraph (a) or (b), or

(d) an offence under any law of the Commonwealth that corresponds to an offence referred to in paragraph (a), (b) or (c) and that is prescribed by the regulations.

"complainant" , in relation to any proceedings, means the person, or any of the persons, against whom a prescribed sexual offence with which the accused person stands charged in those proceedings is alleged to have been committed, and includes--

(a) in relation to an offence under section 80E of the Crimes Act 1900 , the person who is alleged to have been the subject of sexual servitude, and

(b) in relation to an offence under section 91D, 91E or 91F of the Crimes Act 1900 , the person under the age of 18 years who is alleged to have participated in an act of child prostitution, and

(c) in relation to an offence under section 91G of the Crimes Act 1900 , the person under the age of 18 years who is alleged to have been used for the production of child abuse material, and

(d) in relation to an offence under any law of the Commonwealth that corresponds to an offence referred to in paragraph (a), (b) or (c) and that is prescribed by the regulations--the person referred to in the relevant paragraph.