Digitally recorded evidence-in-chief

The victim must consent before giving their statement to police. A specially trained police officer may only take a DREC from victims of family violence who:

• are 18 years of age or older
• do not appear to have a cognitive impairment, and
• give informed consent.

A DREC cannot be taken if the accused person was under 18 years of age at the time of the alleged incident.

The DREC must be made as soon as practicable after the related family violence incident.

It can be taken with the help of an interpreter, if necessary.

As a victim of family violence, you can also have a support person with you when giving DREC. The recording can be done at a location that is most comfortable for you. The accused person will not be present when the recording is taken by police.

Police can still take a written statement if you prefer not to provide DREC. An interpreter can also be made available to help you with your written statement.

If the case proceeds to court, you will still need to give oral evidence as you will not have a DREC which can be played.

If used as evidence-in-chief in court, a DREC will not be tendered into evidence.

The court may receive an electronic link to the DREC after the hearing to assist in the administration of justice if required.

Police prosecutors will bring the technical equipment needed to play a DREC in court.

This includes:

• a laptop, and
• relevant cables to connect to the court system.

If you apply for your DREC not to be used in court proceedings, a police member will need to assess this request. They will also assess the safety risks you may face if the DREC is not used in evidence.

You may apply in writing to ask your DREC not be used:

• in the course of an investigation of a family violence incident, or
• in a subsequent prosecution.

The DREC may still be used if we believe that you are at greater risk if a prosecution does not occur.

A police informant will notify you of the outcome of these requests.

If necessary, the brief authoriser and/or the police prosecutor can edit or redact the DREC before the court proceeding, in line with legislation.

If the court requests further editing, this will need to be done at a police station.

As defined by legislation, a transcript of the DREC will only be provided if:

• there is a reasonably foreseeable risk that if supplied with an audio DREC, the accused would illegally supply or publish the audio DREC
• the circumstances of the accused require a transcript (e.g. they are hearing impaired)
• the matter is to be heard in the County Court or Supreme Court jurisdictions, or
• a court orders that the DREC is transcribed.

Any enquiries about DREC transcripts should be directed to the investigator of the family violence incident.

A DREC may be played in an FVIO proceeding. It will focus on capturing details of the incident at the time.

We may need to capture a victim’s family violence history in further written statements.

We aim for DREC recordings to be brief, and ideally under 15 minutes. However, this will vary from case to case.

You may request an audio copy of your DREC from the police officer investigating your case. You may also request to view your video DREC.

Before giving you access to your DREC, we will consider:

• your welfare, and
• the potential impacts of providing you with access.

The accused will be provided an audio-only copy of the DREC. In some circumstances, the accused will only be given a transcript. The accused person may choose not to view the DREC.

The accused will have an opportunity to view the video DREC under supervision:

• at the time of the police interview
• at a later date, arranged with the police informant, or
• through their legal representation.

The accused will not be shown content that could endanger a victim’s safety. If we think that providing an audio copy of the DREC presents a risk that the accused will improperly share it, the accused will only be provided with a transcript of the DREC.

Copying, sharing or publishing DREC by the accused

An accused person is prohibited from copying, publishing or supplying a DREC to another person without lawful excuse. If the DREC is copied, published or given to another person without lawful excuse, that person may be charged for committing a criminal offence.

As a victim, you can share the audio copy of your DREC with another person, such as a support worker.

However, the DREC must not be published.

Any DREC shared by a victim with another person can only copy, publish or supply the DREC to another person in limited circumstances. These are set out in section 387L of the Criminal Procedure Act 2009.

A support worker is generally not permitted to copy, publish or supply the DREC to another person.

Copying, sharing or publishing DREC by the accused

An accused person is prohibited from copying, publishing or supplying a DREC to another person without lawful excuse.

If the DREC is copied, published or given to another person without lawful excuse, that person may be charged for committing a criminal offence.

The DREC can be used in civil proceedings for an FVIO. It will focus on the most recent incident.

We may ask you to provide further details at a later date to support an FVIO application. This will be taken as a written statement.

A legal practitioner can show their client the video DREC at any time. An accused may choose not to view the DREC.

However, it is an offence to provide a DREC in a prohibited form to an accused person.

There are other offences which apply to possessing, copying, supplying and publishing a DREC.

Legal practitioners will be granted access to DRECs electronically, through the online portal Evidence.com. If legal practitioners cannot access a DREC, they can contact the informant for help.

Legal practitioners must store and manage the DREC in accordance with existing legal and professional obligations.

It is an offence to publish, copy or supply DREC footage to another person, except as permitted by the legislation. This is in accordance with section 387L of the Criminal Procedure Act 2009.