A person claiming sexual assault communications privilege under Division 2 of Part 5 of Chapter 6 of the Criminal Procedure Act 1986 (NSW) bears the onus of establishing the privilege with focused and specific evidence; mere assertions of privilege in affidavits are insufficient. Where the evidence does not directly address the characterisation of documents as counselling communications within s 296, the trial judge must examine each document individually. Section 299B(4) empowers the court to make orders facilitating this process, including receiving evidence in confidence.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 2 later cases that cite this judgment.