New South Wales Repealed Acts

This legislation has been repealed.

CRIMES LEGISLATION AMENDMENT ACT 2003 - SCHEDULE 10

SCHEDULE 10 – Amendment of Evidence (Children) Act 1997 No 143

(Section 3)

[1] Section 11 Child entitled to give evidence in chief in form of recording

Insert "The child must not be present in, 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." after "the court." in section 11 (1).

[2] Section 11 (1AA)

Insert after section 11 (1):

(1AA) Despite subsection (1), a child may, if the child so chooses, be present in court while it is viewing or hearing a recording as referred to in that subsection.

[3] Section 11 (2)

Insert "subsequently" after "must".

[4] Section 15A

Insert after section 15:

15A Transcripts of recordings The court may order that a transcript be supplied to the court or, if there is a jury, to the jury, or both, of all or part of evidence of a previous representation to which this Part applies made by a child that is given in the form of a recording if it appears to the court that a transcript would be likely to aid its or the jury's comprehension of the evidence.

[5] Section 23 Use of closed-circuit television or similar technology

Insert "under this Part" after "technology used".

[6] Schedule 2 Savings, transitional and other provisions

Insert after clause 2:

3 Evidence in chief in form of recording The amendments made to section 11 by the Crimes Legislation Amendment Act 2003 extend to evidence in chief given in a proceeding after the commencement of the amendments, regardless of whether the proceeding commenced before or after the commencement of the amendments.

Note: Section 11 of the Evidence (Children) Act 1997 creates a presumption that a child is entitled to give evidence in chief of a previous representation made to an investigating official in the form of a recording.
Items [1], [2] and [3] make it clear that the child must not be present in the court (unless the child so chooses) or be visible or audible to the court by means of closed-circuit television or any other similar technology while the recording is being viewed or heard.
Item [4] enables a court to order that a transcript of all or part of a recording be supplied to aid its or a jury's comprehension of the evidence concerned.
Item [5] amends section 23 of the Act to make it clear that it applies only to evidence given by closed circuit-television or similar technology under Part 4 of the Act and not to evidence given by a recording under section 11.
Item [6] makes it clear that the amendments to section 11 extend to evidence in chief given in a proceeding after the commencement of the amendments even if the proceeding commenced before the commencement of the amendments.