The statutory obligation under s 10 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1894 (Qld) to exclude involuntary confessions is mandatory and must be discharged whenever the issue of voluntariness is raised, regardless of the stage of the trial. A trial judge cannot decline to rule on admissibility on the basis that the objection was raised too late or that defence counsel pursued tactical advantages in delaying the objection. The question of whether the Crown may reopen its case to address voluntariness issues raised during the defence case was left open.
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