Victorian Current Acts Victorian Current Acts(1) To be admissible as evidence-in-chief under section 387F, a recorded statement—
(a) must be made—
(i) as soon as practicable after the events constituting the alleged family violence offence to which the statement relates occurred; and
(ii) with the complainant's informed consent; and
(b) must include, at the end of the recording, an attestation by the complainant as to the truth of the content of the statement; and
(c) subject to subsection (2), must be in the form of an audiovisual recording.
(2) In exceptional circumstances and having regard to whether the accused would be unfairly prejudiced, the court may admit as evidence-in-chief a recorded statement in the form of an audio recording, if an audiovisual recording of the statement is not available.
(3) A recorded statement is made with informed consent if—
(a) the trained police officer informs the complainant that—
(i) the recorded statement may be used in evidence in a criminal proceeding, a proceeding for a family violence intervention order or, if a court or tribunal orders, another proceeding; and
(ii) the complainant may be required to give further evidence in the proceeding, including further evidence-in-chief and evidence on cross-examination and re‑examination; and
(iii) the complainant may refuse consent to the making of the recorded statement; and
(b) the complainant indicates in the recorded statement that the complainant—
(i) understands the matters referred to in paragraph (a); and
(ii) consents to the making of the recorded statement.
(4) If any part of a recorded statement is in a language other than English—
(a) the recorded statement must contain an oral translation of the part into English; or
(b) a separate written English translation of the part must accompany the recorded statement.
S. 387H inserted by No. 33/2018 s. 116.