53XApplication for intimate image disposal order

53X Application for intimate image disposal order

(1) The Director of Public Prosecutions or a police officer may apply to a court for an intimate image disposal order in respect of a seized thing, or of electronic material contained in a seized thing, that—

(a) was the subject of a criminal proceeding for an intimate image offence in which—

(i) the charge was discontinued, withdrawn or permanently stayed; or

(ii) the person was acquitted or found not guilty (including because of mental impairment) of the charge; or

(iii) the charge was dismissed; or

(iv) the person charged was released on an undertaking under section 75 of the Sentencing Act 1991; or

(b) was not the subject of a criminal proceeding.

Sections 77 and 78 of the Confiscation Act 1997 apply to the disposal of an intimate image if a person is convicted of an offence set out in Schedule 1 to that Act.

(2) The court to which an application under subsection (1) is to be made is—

(a) the court in which the proceeding was at the time the event referred to in subsection (1)(a)(i) to (iv) occurred; or

(b) the Magistrates' Court.

S. 53Y inserted by No. 38/2022 s. 22.