Admission in serious case inadmissible unless recorded
118 Admission in serious case inadmissible unless recorded
In this section —
admission means an admission made by a suspect to a police officer or a CCC officer, whether the admission is by spoken words or by acts or otherwise;
adult means a person who has reached 18 years of age;
child means a person who is under 18 years of age;
reasonable excuse, for the absence of an audiovisual recording of an admission, includes —
the admission was made when it was not practicable to make an audiovisual recording of it;
equipment to make an audiovisual recording of the admission could not be obtained while it was reasonable to detain the suspect;
the suspect did not consent to an audiovisual recording being made of the admission;
the equipment used to make an audiovisual recording of the admission malfunctioned.
This section applies in respect of a suspect who is —
a child charged with an indictable offence, irrespective of whether, if an adult were charged with it, it could be dealt with by a court of summary jurisdiction; or
an adult charged with an indictable offence that cannot be dealt with by a court of summary jurisdiction.
On the trial of the suspect for the offence, evidence of any admission by the suspect is not admissible unless —
the evidence is an audiovisual recording of the admission; or
in the absence of an audiovisual recording of the admission —
the prosecution proves, on the balance of probabilities, that there is a reasonable excuse for the absence; or
the court decides otherwise under section 155.
Subsection (3) does not apply to an admission by a person made before there were reasonable grounds to suspect that he or she had committed the offence.
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