Dear Mr Francis

 

Thank you for your request to the Ministry of Justice under the Official
Information Act.  

 

It has come to or attention that a small number of emails from the FYI
website, including yours, were inadvertently blocked by our email provider
due to a change in settings.  The issue has now been resolved, but there
will be a slight delay in responding to your request as we only received
it on 13 June 2018.  We will respond as soon as practicable, and no later
than 11 July (unless extended or transferred).  We apologise for any
inconvenience.

 

Regards

 

Antony

 

 

   

[1]Description: Description: Description: Antony Paltridge
http://justice.govt.nz/courts/shared/jus...
Team Leader (Media and
External Relations) |
Communication Services
DDI: +64 4 918 8980

[2]www.justice.govt.nz

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Ministry of Justice,

I have the following information request.

In 2005, the Justice and Electoral Select Committee, with reference to the
Peter Ellis case, recommended “that section 340 of the Crimes Act 1961 be
amended so that, in an adversarial environment, multiple allegations of
sexual crimes substantially based on the evidence of more than one
complainant should not be included in an indictment without very close
consideration of the risk of the jury drawing a conclusion from the
totality of the charges rather than the necessary detailed examination of
each allegation”. Has section 340 of the Crimes Act been so amended? If
so, when was it amended?

On 1 August 2007, Section 49 of the Evidence Regulations came into effect.
This section allows a judge to warn or inform a jury where a witness is a
child under 6 years of age. Does this section remain in effect and what
was the reasoning for or background to its introduction? Prior to the
introduction of this section, what warnings or information were judges
able to give juries in regards to child witnesses, and what legislation
enabled such warnings or information to be given? Of the twenty
complainants involved in the prosecution of Peter Ellis, how many were
aged under 6 when Ellis’ trial began?

Yours faithfully,

Ross Francis

 

 

 

 

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Good morning Mr Francis

 

Please find attached a response to your OIA request.

 

Regards

 

 

 

   

[1]Description: Description: Description: Antony Paltridge
http://justice.govt.nz/courts/shared/jus...
Team Leader (Media and
External Relations) |
Communication Services
DDI: +64 4 918 8980

[2]www.justice.govt.nz

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
2. http://www.justice.govt.nz/