Where a witness has undergone hypnosis after giving recorded evidence, the admissibility of the pre-hypnosis recorded evidence falls to be determined under s 137 of the Evidence Act 1995 (NSW), not under general law principles requiring the prosecution to establish it is 'safe' to admit the evidence. The fact and content of hypnosis sessions are factors to be considered in the s 137 balancing exercise, not grounds for a separate exclusionary rule. There is no blanket rule excluding evidence from witnesses who have undergone hypnosis; the danger of unfair prejudice must be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 12 later cases that cite this judgment.
2 of the 12 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.