The Supreme Court held that the Local Court erred in finding it had 'no power' to permit an accused to give evidence by audio visual link from the Russian Federation under s 5B of the Evidence (Audio and Audio Visual Links) Act 1998 (NSW); the Local Court plainly has such power as a 'NSW court' to which Part 1A applies. The decisions were set aside and remitted for determination according to law. The Court left open the question of whether international comity considerations could preclude an AVL direction where the foreign nation's law prohibits such evidence, and provided guidance on the factors relevant to the discretionary assessment under s 5B(2)(c) and s 5B(3), including the importance of in-person testimony for credibility assessment in serious criminal proceedings.
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