34LPresence of parent or witness while sampling procedure is carried out

34L Presence of parent or witness while sampling procedure is carried out

[Section 34L Inserted by No. 28 of 2014, s. 16, Applied:17 Dec 2014]

(1)  In this section –

independent witness means a person who is 18 years old or older and is neither a police officer nor a parent of the young child undergoing a sampling procedure;

unavailable, in relation to a parent of a young child on whom a sampling procedure is to be carried out, means that the parent –

(a) has declined to be present during the carrying out of the sampling procedure; or

(b) has been notified by an Officer of Police, under subsection (5) , that he or she is not to be present during the carrying out of the sampling procedure; or

(c) cannot be located after a reasonable attempt has been made to locate the parent; or

(d) has died; or

(e) does not have the mental capacity to be able to consent.

(2)  Except as provided in subsection (3) , a sampling procedure may be carried out on a young child only if there is present during the carrying out of the procedure –

(a) at least one of the young child's parents; or

(b) if the young child's parents are unavailable, an independent witness.

(3)  If a parent of a young child, or an independent witness, unreasonably interferes with, or obstructs, the carrying out of a sampling procedure on the young child –

(a) the parent or independent witness may be excluded from the place where the sampling procedure is being carried out; and

(b) the carrying out of the sampling procedure may then proceed in the absence of that parent or independent witness.

(4)  A parent of a young child, or an independent witness, must not unreasonably interfere with, or obstruct, the carrying out of a sampling procedure on the young child.