In a judge-alone trial for sexual offences under s 119(3)(a) of the Criminal Procedure Act 2004 (WA), the trial judge as tribunal of law must determine whether a warning about the reliability of the complainant's evidence is necessary to avoid a perceptible risk of miscarriage of justice. A warning is not required where the circumstances suggesting unreliability would be obvious to the tribunal of fact and there is no particular hidden danger in acting on the evidence. The decision in Fleming v The Queen is an application of the general common law warning requirement, not a separate principle.
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