The Court excluded the entirety of a record of interview under s 90 of the Evidence Act 1995 (NSW), holding that the NSW Food Authority's conduct in failing to inform the defendant that he was being interviewed in his individual capacity (not merely as a company representative), that his participation was voluntary, and in providing a legally incorrect pro forma warning that purported to abrogate the privilege against self-incrimination without statutory basis, rendered it unfair to admit the admissions against him. The Court found that while the cautions given during the interview were adequate to convey that answering was optional, they were inadequate to convey that the defendant was personally in jeopardy of criminal prosecution, and that the Authority had impermissibly elided its exercise of compulsory powers against the company with its criminal investigation of the defendant as an individual.
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