Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

CRIMES ACT 1914 - SECT 39

             (1)  A person commits an offence if:

                     (a)  the person knows that a book, document or thing of any kind is, or may be, required in evidence in a judicial proceeding; and

                     (b)  the person:

                              (i)  destroys the book, document or thing; or

                             (ii)  renders the book, document or thing illegible, undecipherable or incapable of identification; and

                     (c)  the person does so with the intention of preventing the book, document or thing from being used in evidence; and

                     (d)  the judicial proceeding is a federal judicial proceeding.

Penalty:  Imprisonment for 5 years.

             (2)  Absolute liability applies to the paragraph (1)(d) element of the offence.

Note:          For absolute liability, see section 6.2 of the Criminal Code .