A covert recording by an alleged victim of crime of a conversation with the alleged offender for the purpose of obtaining admissions is unlikely to satisfy the 'reasonably necessary' requirement in s 5(3)(b)(i) of the Listening Devices Act 1984 (NSW) where the victim could instead have approached police who could have applied for a warrant under Part 4 of the Act. However, such a recording may nonetheless be admissible under s 138 of the Evidence Act 1995 where it has high probative value, the offences are serious, and the recording party acted on their own initiative. The 'dangerous to convict' formula is not an indispensable component of a Longman direction; whether it should be given depends on the circumstances of the particular case.
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