Criminal Procedure Act 1921

Where a charge of an indictable offence is to proceed to an answer charge hearing, the prosecutor must, at least 4 weeks before the date appointed for that hearing, file in the Magistrates Court a brief (the committal brief) containing—

statements of witnesses for the prosecution on which the prosecutor relies as tending to establish the guilt of the defendant; and

copies of any documents on which the prosecutor relies as tending to establish the guilt of the defendant (other than sensitive material or documents that are of only peripheral relevance to the subject matter of the charge); and

a document describing any other evidentiary material (including sensitive material and documents that are of only peripheral relevance to the subject matter of the charge) on which the prosecutor relies as tending to establish the guilt of the defendant together with a statement of the significance the material is alleged to have; and

all other material relevant to the charge (whether relevant to the case for the prosecution or the case for the defence) that is available to the prosecution except material exempt from production because of privilege or for some other reason, provided that any such material that has already been included in the preliminary brief (filed in the Magistrates Court and given to the defendant or a legal practitioner representing the defendant under section 106) need not be included in the committal brief.

If material of the kind required to be included in the committal brief comes into the prosecutor's possession after the filing of the committal brief, the prosecutor must file the new material in the

If material is filed in the Court in accordance with subsection (1) or (2), a copy of that material must be given to the defendant or a legal practitioner representing the defendant as soon as practicable after it is so filed.

A witness statement included in a committal brief—

must be in the form of an affidavit; and

if—

the statement is tendered for the prosecution and relates to an interview between an investigating officer and the defendant; and

an audio visual record or audio record of the interview, or the reading over of a written record of the interview, was made under the

However, if the witness is a witness to whom this subsection applies, the following provisions apply:

the witness's statement may be—

in the form of a written statement taken down by an investigating officer at an interview with the witness and verified by the officer as an accurate record of the witness's oral statements at the interview so far as they are relevant to the subject matter of the charge; or

in the form of an audio visual record or audio record of an interview with the witness that is accompanied by a written transcript verified by an investigating officer or person of a prescribed class who was present at the interview as a complete record of the interview;

if a recording referred to in paragraph (a)(ii) is filed in the Court, the prosecutor must—

provide the defendant with a copy of the verified written transcript of the recording at least 4 weeks before the date appointed for the answer charge hearing or, if the recording comes into the prosecutor's possession on a later date, as soon as practicable after the recording comes into the prosecutor's possession; and

inform the defendant that the defendant is entitled to have the recording played over to the defendant or his or her legal representative (or both) and propose a time and place for the playing over of the recording;

the time proposed for playing the recording must be at least 2 weeks before the date appointed for the answer charge hearing or, if the recording comes into the prosecutor's possession at a later date, as soon as practicable after the recording comes into the prosecutor's possession (but the time and place may be modified by agreement).

Subsection (5) applies to a witness who is—

illiterate;

a child of or under the age of 14 years; or

a person with a disability that adversely affects the person's capacity to give a coherent account of the person's experiences or to respond rationally to questions; or

the victim of an alleged sexual offence; or

the victim of an alleged offence involving domestic abuse (within the meaning of the Intervention

If the prosecutor relies on evidence that is sensitive material as tending to establish the guilt of the defendant, the prosecutor must, at least 4 weeks before the date appointed for the answer charge hearing—

give the defendant copies of the sensitive material; or

give the defendant a sensitive material notice in relation to the material.