Published by Geoff Harrison | 13 January 2025
Other Sources:
Cases:
Extracted Legislation:
CRIMINAL PROCEDURE ACT 1986 - SECT 183
Brief of evidence to be served on accused person where not guilty plea
(1) If an accused person pleads not guilty to an offence, the prosecutor must, subject to section 187, serve or cause to be served on the accused person a copy of the brief of evidence relating to the offence.
(2) The brief of evidence is, unless the regulations otherwise provide, to consist of documents regarding the evidence that the prosecutor intends to adduce in order to prove the commission of the offence and is to include--
(a) written statements taken from the persons the prosecutor intends to call to give evidence in proceedings for the offence, and
(b) copies of any document or any other thing, identified in such a written statement as a proposed exhibit.
(3) The copy of the brief of evidence is to be served at least 14 days before the hearing of the evidence for the prosecution.
(4) The Magistrate may set a later date for service with the consent of the accused person or if of the opinion that the circumstances of the case require it.
CRIMINAL PROCEDURE ACT 1986 - SECT 184
Exhibits
(1) Despite section 183, the prosecutor is not required to include a copy of a proposed exhibit identified in the brief of evidence if it is impossible or impractical to copy the exhibit.
(2) However, in that case the prosecutor is--
(a) to serve on the accused person a notice specifying a reasonable time and place at which the proposed exhibit may be inspected, and
(b) to allow the accused person a reasonable opportunity to inspect each proposed exhibit referred to in the notice.
CRIMINAL PROCEDURE ACT 1986 - SECT 185
Recording of interviews with vulnerable persons
(1) If the prosecutor intends to call a vulnerable person to give evidence in proceedings, the brief of evidence may include a transcript of a recording made by an investigating official of an interview with the vulnerable person, during which the vulnerable person was questioned by the investigating official in connection with the investigation of the commission or possible commission of the offence (as referred to in section 306R).
(2) A copy of the transcript of the recording must be certified by an investigating official as an accurate transcript of the recording and served on the accused person in accordance with section 183.
(3) A brief of evidence that includes a transcript of a recording of an interview with a vulnerable person is not required also to include a written statement from the vulnerable person concerned.
(4) The transcript of the recording is taken, for the purposes of this Division, to be a written statement taken from the vulnerable person. Accordingly, any document or other thing identified in the transcript as a proposed exhibit forms part of the brief of evidence.
(5) Nothing in this Division requires the prosecutor to serve on the accused person a copy of the actual recording made by an investigating official of an interview with the vulnerable person.
(6) This section does not affect section 306V (2).
(7) In this section--
"investigating official" has the same meaning as it has in Part 6 of Chapter 6.
Note : Part 6 of Chapter 6 allows vulnerable persons (children and cognitively impaired persons) to give evidence of a previous representation in the form of a recording made by an investigating official of an interview with the vulnerable person. Section 306V (2) (which is contained in that Part) provides that such evidence is not to be admitted unless the accused person and his or her Australian legal practitioner have been given a reasonable opportunity to listen to or view the recording.
CRIMINAL PROCEDURE ACT 1986 - SECT 185A
Recordings of interviews with domestic violence complainants
(1) If the prosecutor intends to call a domestic violence complainant to give evidence in proceedings for a domestic violence offence, the brief of evidence may include a recorded statement relating to the offence.
(2) For the purpose of the service of a recorded statement included in a brief of evidence, the requirements of Division 3 of Part 4B of Chapter 6 in relation to service of, and access to, a recorded statement must be complied with.
(3) This Division (other than section 185 (1)) applies to a recorded statement included in a brief of evidence and the person whose representation is recorded in the recorded statement in the same way as it applies to a written statement included under this Division and the person who made the written statement.
(4) A brief of evidence that includes a recorded statement is not required also to include a written statement from the domestic violence complainant.
(5) This section does not affect section 289I (2).
CRIMINAL PROCEDURE ACT 1986 - SECT 186
Form of copy of brief of evidence
(1) The copy of the brief of evidence is to comply with any requirement applicable to it prescribed by the rules.
(2) A written statement contained in the brief of evidence is to comply with this Act and any requirement applicable to it prescribed by the rules.
CRIMINAL PROCEDURE ACT 1986 - SECT 187
When brief of evidence need not be served
(1) The court may order that all or part of the copy of the brief of evidence need not be served if it is satisfied--
(a) that there are compelling reasons for not requiring service, or
(b) that it could not reasonably be served on the accused person.
(2) The court may make an order under this section on its own initiative or on the application of any party.
(3) An order may be made subject to any conditions that the court thinks fit.
(4) Without limiting any other power to adjourn proceedings, the court may grant one or more adjournments, if it appears to it to be just and reasonable to do so, if the copy of the brief of evidence is not served in accordance with this Division. For that purpose, the court may extend the time for service of the brief of evidence.
(5) A prosecutor is not required to serve a brief of evidence in proceedings for an offence of a kind, or proceedings of a kind, prescribed by the regulations.
CRIMINAL PROCEDURE ACT 1986 - SECT 188
Evidence not to be admitted
(1) The court must refuse to admit evidence sought to be adduced by the prosecutor in respect of an offence if, in relation to that evidence, this Division or any rules made under this Division have not been complied with by the prosecutor.
(2) The court may, and on the application of or with the consent of the accused person must, dispense with the requirements of subsection (1) on such terms and conditions as appear just and reasonable.
CRIMINAL PROCEDURE ACT 1986 - SECT 189
False statements or representations
(1) A person who made a written statement tendered in evidence in proceedings is guilty of an offence if the statement contains any matter that, at the time the statement was made, the person knew to be false, or did not believe to be true, in any material respect.
Maximum penalty--
(a) If the offence is dealt with summarily, 20 penalty units or imprisonment for 12 months, or both.
(b) If the offence is dealt with on indictment, 50 penalty units or imprisonment for 5 years, or both.
(1A) A person who made a representation given in evidence in proceedings in the form of a recorded statement is guilty of an offence if the representation contains any matter that, at the time the representation was made, the person knew to be false, or did not believe to be true, in any material respect.
Maximum penalty--
(a) If the offence is dealt with summarily, 20 penalty units or imprisonment for 12 months, or both.
(b) If the offence is dealt with on indictment, 50 penalty units or imprisonment for 5 years, or both.
(2) Chapter 5 (which relates to the summary disposal of certain indictable offences unless an election is made to proceed on indictment) applies to and in respect of an offence under this section.
CRIMINAL PROCEDURE REGULATION 2017 - REG 24
Offences for which briefs of evidence not required
For the purposes of section 187 (5) of the Act, the following proceedings are prescribed as proceedings of a kind in which a prosecutor is not required to serve a brief of evidence--
(a) proceedings for an offence for which a penalty notice may be issued (other than an offence that is set out in Schedule 4, clause 2, table and that is not referred to below),
(b) proceedings for an offence under section 4 of the Summary Offences Act 1988,
(c) proceedings for an offence under any of the following provisions of the Road Transport Act 2013 (or a former corresponding provision within the meaning of that Act)--
(i) section 53 (3) or 54 (1) (a), (3) (a), (4) (a), (5) (a) (i) or (b) (i),
(ii) section 110, 111A or 112,
(d) proceedings for a summary offence for which there is a monetary penalty only,
(e) proceedings for an offence under section 10 of the Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985,
(f) proceedings for an offence under section 16 (1) of the Poisons and Therapeutic Goods Act 1966.
CRIMINAL PROCEDURE REGULATION 2017 - REG 25
Short briefs of evidence required in certain circumstances
(1) The object of this clause is to reduce the time spent by police officers in producing statements of non-material witnesses for inclusion in certain briefs of evidence and, accordingly, a court is to have regard to that object when exercising its functions under this clause.
(2) This clause applies only to proceedings for summary offences (including proceedings for indictable offences specified in Table 2 to Schedule 1 to the Act that are being dealt with summarily) for which a brief of evidence is required to be served under section 183 of the Act.
(3) In this clause,
"prescribed statement" means, in relation to a brief of evidence required to be served under section 183 of the Act in proceedings, a statement of a non-material witness, including the following--
(a) a police officer who provides evidence that the preconditions of the exercise of a power have been satisfied or establishes that the evidence on which the prosecutor relies was obtained in accordance with the law (for example, the custody manager who cautions the accused person under Part 9 of the Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act 2002 ),
(b) a police officer who was responsible for the movement of, or recording the movement of, a thing connected with the offence or the investigation of the offence (for example, a police officer who conveys DNA or a drug sample to the Division of Analytical Laboratories),
(c) a police officer who operated a device that produced or caused the production of a document, photograph, video or any other thing relied on by the prosecutor to prove the prosecution's case,
(d) any other police officer who provides evidence that merely corroborates evidence of another police officer whose statement relates to a process or procedure and is included in the brief of evidence (for example, a police officer, other than the investigating police officer, who was present when the accused person was interviewed),
(e) a person who is a medical practitioner, nurse, paramedic or other health care professional if all the notes of the person (for example, doctor's treatment notes or ambulance officer's checklists) have been included in the brief of evidence.
(4) For the purposes of section 183 (2) of the Act, a brief of evidence need not include the following--
(a) any prescribed statement, but only if the brief includes a list of each prescribed statement that, but for this clause, would need to be included in the brief and a summary of what each listed statement would include,
(b) any document that was served on the accused person or the accused person's legal representative by or on behalf of the prosecutor after the court attendance notice in relation to the offence concerned was served.
(5) On application by the accused person in proceedings, the court may order that any prescribed statement, or any document referred to in subclause (4) (b), be served on the accused person by the prosecutor within a specified time before the hearing if the statement or document was not included in the brief of evidence. The court is to give reasons for the making of the order.
(6) The court may make an order under subclause (5) only if satisfied that--
(a) in the case of a prescribed statement, the making of the order would assist the accused person to respond to the charge or assist the court in determining the matter, or
(b) in the case of a document referred to in subclause (4) (b), the application for the order has been made in good faith.
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