306BAdmission of evidence of complainant or special witness in new trial proceedings

306B Admission of evidence of complainant or special witness in new trial proceedings

306B Admission of evidence of complainant or special witness in new trial proceedings

(1) If a person is convicted of a prescribed sexual offence and, on an appeal against the conviction, a new trial is ordered, the prosecutor may tender as evidence in the new trial proceedings a record of the original evidence of the complainant or a special witness.

(2) For the purposes of this Division, the original evidence of the complainant or a special witness means all evidence given by the complainant or special witness in the proceedings from which the conviction arose (referred to in this Division as the original proceedings), including the evidence given by the complainant or special witness on examination in chief in the original proceedings and any further evidence given on cross-examination or re-examination in those proceedings.

(3) Despite anything to the contrary in the Evidence Act 1995, or any other Act or law, a record of the original evidence of the complainant or a special witness is admissible in the new trial proceedings if—

(a) the prosecutor gives written notice to the accused person, in accordance with the regulations, of the prosecutor’s intention to tender the record under this section, and

(b) the prosecutor gives written notice to the court of the prosecutor’s intention to tender the record under this section, and

(c) the notices referred to in paragraphs (a) and (b) are given no less than 21 days before the court commences hearing the new trial proceedings or within such other period as the court may allow.

(4) The hearsay rule (within the meaning of the Evidence Act 1995) does not prevent the admission of a record of the original evidence of the complainant or a special witness under this Division or the use of that record to prove the existence of a fact that the complainant or special witness intended to assert by a representation made in the original evidence.

(5) The court hearing the new trial proceedings does not have any discretion to decline to admit a record of the original evidence of the complainant or a special witness if it is admissible under this Division.

(5A) If a record of original evidence of a special witness is admitted in new trial proceedings under this section, the special witness is not compellable to give further evidence about the same matters in the new trial proceeding unless the court is satisfied that it is necessary for the special witness to give further evidence—