Section 165 of the Evidence Act 1995 (NSW) does not require a trial judge to give an unreliable evidence warning of their own motion where no party has requested one under s 165(2). A witness who testifies under an indemnity from prosecution is not necessarily a witness 'criminally concerned in the events giving rise to the proceeding' under s 165(1)(d); the indemnity alone does not establish sufficient connection. Hearsay statements by a deceased expressing fear of the accused are admissible under s 72 as contemporaneous representations about state of mind, and the inability to cross-examine the deceased is the necessary consequence of the statutory exception to the hearsay rule, not a ground for exclusion under ss 135-137.
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