Queensland Consolidated Acts

EVIDENCE ACT 1977 - SECT 103ZZH

103ZZH Chief executive to establish sexual offence expert evidence panel

(1) The chief executive must establish and maintain a panel of persons the chief executive is satisfied are suitable to give relevant evidence about a defendant in a relevant proceeding.

(2) A person is not suitable to give relevant evidence about a defendant in a relevant proceeding unless the person can demonstrate specialised knowledge, gained by training, study or experience, in—

(a) psychiatry; or

(b) neuro-cognitive psychology; or

(c) a field of knowledge relevant to assessing—

(i) cognitive impairment of a person within the meaning of the Criminal Code , section 348B or mental health impairment of a person within the meaning of the Criminal Code , section 348C ; and

(ii) the effect of such an impairment on the person’s ability to communicate.

(3) Also, a person is not suitable to give relevant evidence about a defendant in a relevant proceeding if—

(a) the person has been the subject of professional discipline; or

(b) the person has been denied, or removed from, professional registration; or

(c) the person has a criminal history that indicates a lack of suitability to give relevant evidence about a defendant in a relevant proceeding.

(4) Subsections (2) and (3) do not limit the matters to which the chief executive may have regard in considering the suitability of a person to give relevant evidence about a defendant in a relevant proceeding.

(5) The panel established under this section is the
"sexual offence expert evidence panel" .