135Victim submission not to be released to offender without consent

135 Victim submission not to be released to offender without consent (1) A court must not release a victim submission to an offender in respect of whom an order is being made unless— (a) in the opinion of the court, the release of the submission is essential in the interests of fairness and justice; and (b) before releasing the victim submission, the court has asked the person who made the victim submission whether the person— (i) consents to the submission being released to the offender; or (ii) wishes to amend the submission so that it can be released to the offender; or (iii) wishes to withdraw the submission. (2) If a person who made a victim submission does not— (a) consent to the submission being released to the offender; or (b) amend the submission so that it can be released to the offender; or (c) withdraw the submission— when asked by the court under subsection (1)(b), the court— (d) must not release the victim submission to the offender; and (e) in considering the victim submission when determining to impose a condition on the supervision order, may reduce the weight it would otherwise have given to the submission if the person who made it had consented as provided for in subsection (1)(b). (3) Despite subsections (1) and (2), the court may take reasonable steps to disclose to the offender, or the offender's legal representative, the substance of the victim submission if the court is satisfied that those steps would not reasonably lead to the identification of the victim who made the submission.