Evidence Act 2006

Trial process - Alternative ways of giving evidence - Giving of evidence by family violence complainants

106A: Giving of evidence by family violence complainants

You could also call this:

"How family violence victims can give evidence by video"

If you are a family violence complainant, you can give your main evidence by a video recording made before the court hearing. You can make this video recording with a Police employee within two weeks of the incident. The video recording is used as your main evidence.

When you use a video recording as your main evidence, the Judge will decide how you give the rest of your evidence, following the rules in section 103. The same rules that apply to other main evidence also apply to your video recording, as stated in section 106.

If the prosecution wants to use your video recording as evidence, they must tell the defendant and the court in writing. They usually need to do this when they file certain documents, like a case management memorandum or a trial callover memorandum, as required by the Criminal Procedure Act 2011. But a Judge can allow them to do it at a different time.

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This page was last updated on 29 June 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS140046.

Topics:

Crime and justice > Courts and legal helpCrime and justice > Victim support

106AA: Sections 106A and 106B apply to family violence complainants, or

"Special rules help adults who are victims of family violence when they give evidence in court."

106B: Application by defendant for family violence complainant to give evidence in ordinary way or different alternative way, or

"Asking the court to let a family violence victim give evidence in a special way"

Part 3Trial process
Alternative ways of giving evidence: Giving of evidence by family violence complainants

106AGiving of evidence by family violence complainants

A family violence complainant is entitled to give their evidence in chief by a video record made before the hearing.
The video record must be one recorded—
by a Police employee; and
no later than 2 weeks after the incident in which it is alleged a family violence offence occurred.

If a video record is to be or has been used as the complainant’s evidence in chief, a Judge must give a direction under section 103 about how the complainant will give the other parts of their evidence, including any further evidence in chief.
Section 106 applies to a video record offered as the complainant’s evidence in chief under this section.
If the prosecution intends to use a video record as a complainant’s evidence in chief, the prosecution must provide the defendant and the court with a written notice stating that intention to do so.
Unless a Judge permits otherwise, the notice must be given no later than when a case management memorandum (for a Judge-alone trial) or a trial callover memorandum (for a jury trial) is filed under the Criminal Procedure Act 2011.

Notes

Section 106A: replaced, on 21 December 2022, by section 15 of the Sexual Violence Legislation Act 2021 (2021 No 60).