(1) Subject to this
section, in any proceedings under this Part—
(a)
transcripts of evidence or documents tendered in evidence, or material
otherwise relied on by a court, in proceedings in which a person has been
convicted of an offence; and
(b)
evidence or documents relating to the factual basis on which a person was
convicted and sentenced for an offence,
will be admissible, and the Court may draw any conclusions of fact that it
considers proper from the evidence, document or other material.
(2) Subject to this
section, in any proceedings under this Part, an apparently genuine document
purporting to be a police record of a person's antecedents or criminal history
will be admissible without further proof as evidence of the facts referred to
in the document, or to be inferred from the document.
(3) An affidavit of a
police officer of or above the rank of superintendent will be admissible in
evidence for the purpose of proving that evidence, a document or other
material is of a kind referred to in subsection (1) or (2).
(4) Evidence, a
document or other material will not be admitted in evidence under
subsection (1) or (2) if the Court is of the opinion—
(a) that
the person by whom, or at whose direction, the evidence, document or material
was prepared can and should be called by the party tendering the evidence,
document or material to give evidence of the matters contained in the
evidence, document or material; or
(b) that
the evidentiary weight of the evidence, document or material is slight and is
outweighed by the prejudice that might result to any of the parties from the
admission of the evidence, document or material in evidence; or
(c) that
it would be otherwise contrary to the interests of justice to admit the
evidence, document or material in evidence.
(5) In any proceedings
under this Part, an apparently genuine document purporting to be remarks made
by a court in—
(a)
sentencing a person for an offence; or
(b)
giving reasons for upholding or dismissing an appeal—
(i)
against a sentence for an offence; or
(ii)
against a conviction for an offence where the conviction
is upheld,
as to the facts which the court accepts or finds to have been established in
the proceedings for the offence will be admissible without further proof, if
relevant to an issue in the proceedings, as evidence of those facts.
(6) In determining
whether to admit any material in evidence under this section, the Court may
receive evidence by affidavit of any matter pertaining to the admission of
that material.
(7) For the purpose of
determining the evidentiary weight, if any, of material admitted in evidence
under this section, consideration may be given to the source from which the
material was produced, the safeguards (if any) that have been taken to ensure
its accuracy, and any other relevant matters.
(8) Nothing in this
section limits the material that might be admissible in proceedings under this
Part.