New South Wales Consolidated Acts

EVIDENCE ACT 1995 - SECT 44

44 Previous representations of other persons

(1) Except as provided by this section, a cross-examiner must not question a witness about a previous representation alleged to have been made by a person other than the witness.

(2) A cross-examiner may question a witness about the representation and its contents if--

(a) evidence of the representation has been admitted, or

(b) the court is satisfied that it will be admitted.

(3) If subsection (2) does not apply and the representation is contained in a document, the document may only be used to question a witness as follows--

(a) the document must be produced to the witness,

(b) if the document is a tape recording, or any other kind of document from which sounds are reproduced--the witness must be provided with the means (for example, headphones) to listen to the contents of the document without other persons present at the cross-examination hearing those contents,

(c) the witness must be asked whether, having examined (or heard) the contents of the document, the witness stands by the evidence that he or she has given,

(d) neither the cross-examiner nor the witness is to identify the document or disclose any of its contents.

(4) A document that is so used may be marked for identification.