Northern Territory Numbered Acts

EVIDENCE AND OTHER LEGISLATION AMENDMENT ACT 2020 (NO 3 OF 2020) - SECT 16

Before section 21A, in Part 3

insert

21AA     Definitions

In this Part:

"audiovisual record" includes a recorded statement.

"authorised person "means any of the following:

    (a)     a police officer with the rank of constable or above;

    (b)     a member of the Australian Federal Police who is appointed as a special constable under the Police Administration Act 1978 ;

    (c)     a member of a police force of a State or another Territory who is appointed as a special constable under the Police Administration Act 1978 ;

    (d)     a person who is an authorised officer under section 304(1)(a) of the Care and Protection of Children Act 2007 ;

    (e)     a member of a police force of a State or another Territory with the rank of constable or above;

    (f)     a person prescribed by regulation.

"child" means a person who is under 18 years of age.

"examination" of a witness includes cross-examination and
re-examination.

"recorded statement" means an interview, recorded on video-tape or by other audiovisual means, in which an authorised person elicits from a vulnerable witness statements of fact which, if true, would be of relevance to a proceeding.

"serious violence offence" means an offence against any of the following provisions of the Criminal Code that is punishable by imprisonment for 5 or more years:

    (a)     Part V, Division 2;

    (b)     Part VI, Divisions 3 to 6A;

    (c)     section 211 or 212;

    (d)     another provision prescribed by regulation.

"special sitting", of a court, means a sitting of the court held for the purpose of conducting an examination, or part of an examination, of a vulnerable witness in proceedings for a sexual offence or serious violence offence.

"vulnerable witness", see section 21AB.

21AB     Meaning of vulnerable witness

A "vulnerable witness "means a witness in proceedings:

    (a)     who is a child; or

    (b)     who has a cognitive impairment or an intellectual disability; or

    (c)     who is the alleged victim of a sexual offence to which the proceedings relate; or

    (d)     who is a complainant in a domestic violence offence proceeding; or

    (e)     whom a court considers to be vulnerable.