Western Australian Current Acts Western Australian Current Acts (1) In any criminal
proceeding (and at every stage of the proceeding), the wife or husband of an
accused shall, subject to this Act, be —
(a)
competent to give evidence on behalf of the prosecution, the accused or any
person being tried jointly with the accused; and
(b)
compellable to give evidence on behalf of the accused or any person being
tried jointly with the accused; and
(c)
compellable to give evidence on behalf of the prosecution against the accused
or any person being tried jointly with the accused if —
(i)
the accused is charged with an offence under a provision
mentioned in the Second Schedule or under a repealed Code section; or
(ii)
the accused is charged with attempting or conspiring to
commit, or with inciting the commission of, an offence under a provision
mentioned in the Second Schedule or under a repealed Code section; or
(iii)
the accused is charged on the complaint of the wife or
husband with an offence committed with respect to the property of the wife or
husband; or
(iv)
the wife or husband is compelled, under another
enactment, to give that evidence.
(2) In any criminal
proceeding (and at every stage of the proceeding), a former wife or former
husband of an accused shall, subject to this Act, be competent and compellable
to give evidence on behalf of the prosecution, the accused or any person being
tried jointly with the accused.
[(3) deleted]
(4) Nothing in this
section shall operate to compel an accused in any criminal proceeding to give
evidence in the proceeding.
(5) If the wife or
husband of an accused in any criminal proceeding is called as a witness for
the prosecution but is not a compellable witness for the prosecution, it is
the duty of the judge to inform the wife or husband that she or he is not
compellable to give evidence on behalf of the prosecution if she or he is
unwilling to do so.
(6) In subsection (1)
—
repealed Code section means a repealed section of
The Criminal Code that, before it was repealed, enacted an offence constituted
by acts or omissions that are substantially the same as the acts or omissions
that constitute an offence under a section of The Criminal Code that is
mentioned in Part 1 of the Second Schedule.
[Section 9 inserted: No. 48 of 1991 s. 7; amended:
No. 71 of 2000 s. 5; No. 27 of 2002 s. 31; No. 84 of 2004 s. 82.]
[ 10. Deleted: No. 48 of 1991 s. 8.]