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Criminal Investigations (Bodily Samples) Act 1995

Obtaining bodily samples from suspects - Obtaining bodily sample by court order from persons 18 and over

15: Information may be withheld from respondent

You could also call this:

"A court can keep some information secret to keep people safe or help solve crimes."

Illustration for Criminal Investigations (Bodily Samples) Act 1995

When you apply to a court for a bodily sample, a Judge can stop some information from being shared with the other person. This can happen if sharing the information would put someone in danger or stop the police from solving a crime. The Judge must be sure that not sharing the information is fair. If a Judge decides to keep some information secret, you will still get a notice, but it will not have all the details. The notice will say that some information has been left out. You will not be able to ask for documents that have the secret information. A Judge can also decide that some evidence can be given in writing and not shared with you. This can happen if sharing the evidence would put someone in danger or stop the police from solving a crime. The Judge must be sure that not sharing the evidence is fair. The law says that some information can be kept secret to protect people or to help the police solve crimes. This section of the law does not change other laws that say what information can be shared in court. You can read more about this in section 13 of the Criminal Investigations (Bodily Samples) Act 1995.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM369071.

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Topics:
Crime and justice > Courts and legal helpCrime and justice > Police and safety
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"Don't publish the respondent's name without permission"

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16: Judge may authorise bodily sample to be taken, or

"A Judge can order you to give a bodily sample to help solve a crime."

Part 2Obtaining bodily samples from suspects
Obtaining bodily sample by court order from persons 18 and over

15Information may be withheld from respondent

  1. Where an application is made under section 13, a District Court Judge or a High Court Judge may, on the ex parte application of the applicant, order that any information included in the application made under section 13 shall not be disclosed to the respondent, and that information is not required to be included in the notice given to the respondent pursuant to subsection (3)(a) of that section.

  2. On the hearing of any application made under section 13, the Judge may, on the application of the applicant, order that any evidence to be tendered on behalf of the applicant may be tendered in writing, and shall not be disclosed to the respondent. An application for such an order shall be heard in the absence of the respondent.

  3. A Judge may not make an order under subsection (1) or subsection (2) in relation to any information or evidence unless the Judge is satisfied—

  4. that the disclosure of that information or evidence to the respondent would be likely—
    1. to identify, or lead to the identification of, any constable whose identity is being concealed, or was concealed, for the purposes of the investigation of any offence relevant to the application; or
      1. to endanger the safety of any person; or
        1. to substantially prejudice the investigation of the offence to which the application relates, or any other offence; and
        2. that the withholding of the information or evidence from the respondent would not be contrary to the interests of justice.

          1. Where, pursuant to an order made under subsection (1) of this section, any information is omitted from the notice served on the respondent pursuant to section 13(3)(a), the notice shall include a statement that information has been omitted from the notice pursuant to such an order.

          2. Notwithstanding any enactment or rule of law or rules of court entitling any party to any proceedings to demand the production of any documents, the respondent shall not be entitled to demand the production, for the purposes of the proceedings on the application made under section 13, of any document that contains information or evidence withheld from the respondent pursuant to an order made under subsection (1) of this section; but if any such document would, apart from this subsection, be required to be made available to the respondent, that document may be made available by making a copy of the document available with such deletions or alterations as are necessary.

          3. Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit or restrict the provisions of any other enactment relating to the prohibition or regulation of—

          4. the disclosure of evidence tendered in any judicial proceedings; or
            1. the publication of reports or particulars relating to any such proceedings.

              Notes
              • Section 15(1): amended, on , by section 116 of the Courts Matters Act 2018 (2018 No 50).
              • Section 15(1): amended, on , by section 38 of the Criminal Investigations (Bodily Samples) Amendment Act 2009 (2009 No 46).
              • Section 15(3)(a)(i): amended, on , pursuant to section 116(a)(ii) of the Policing Act 2008 (2008 No 72).