Informed consent to forensic procedures
67 Informed consent to forensic procedures
A serious indictable offender gives informed consent to the carrying out of a forensic procedure under this Part if the offender consents to the carrying out of the procedure after a police officer—
requests the offender to consent to the forensic procedure under section 68, and
informs the offender about the forensic procedure in accordance with section 69, and
gives the offender the opportunity to communicate, or attempt to communicate, with an Australian legal practitioner of the offender’s choice.
The police officer must allow the offender to communicate, or attempt to communicate, with the Australian legal practitioner in private unless the police officer suspects on reasonable grounds that the offender might attempt to destroy or contaminate any evidence that might be obtained by carrying out the forensic procedure.
Note.
Section 103 states that the burden lies on the prosecution to prove on the balance of probabilities that a police officer had a belief on reasonable grounds.
This Act’s bill:Explanatory memorandumSecond reading speech
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