Spontaneous admissions lasting approximately 30 seconds made at a crime scene by a suspect to first-responding uniformed officers may be admissible under s 118(3)(b)(i) of the Criminal Investigation Act 2006 (WA) where it was not practicable to audio-visually record them, even where officers had smartphones capable of recording. The practicability assessment takes into account the brevity of the admissions, the officers' primary duties of securing the scene, and the limited time available to recognise the evidentiary significance of what was being said. A recorded 000 call made shortly before admissions is compelling evidence of voluntariness that may outweigh expert evidence of expected intoxication effects based on back-calculated blood alcohol levels.
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