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Animal Welfare Act 1999

Offences - Further provisions relating to offences

166: Evidence in proceedings

You could also call this:

"What evidence can be used in court cases about animal welfare"

When you are in court for an offence against the Animal Welfare Act, a special paper called a certificate can be used as evidence. This certificate must be signed by the Director-General and say that someone is an inspector appointed under section 124 or an auxiliary officer appointed under section 125. The certificate is enough evidence on its own, unless someone can prove it is wrong.

If someone wants to use this certificate in court, they must give a copy to the other person at least 14 days before the court hearing. They must also tell the other person that the person who signed the certificate will not be called as a witness. The court can stop the certificate from being used as evidence if the other person asks at least 7 days before the hearing and the court thinks there is a good reason to do so.

The court will only stop the certificate from being used if it thinks the certificate might not be accurate or valid. A certificate that says someone is an inspector or auxiliary officer is accepted as true unless someone proves it is wrong. If a certificate is produced in court, it is accepted as real without needing to prove the Director-General's signature, unless someone says it is not real.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM51916.

Topics:
Crime and justice > Courts and legal helpCrime and justice > Criminal law
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Part 8Offences
Further provisions relating to offences

166Evidence in proceedings

  1. In any proceedings for an offence against this Act, a certificate purporting to be signed by the Director-General and stating that a person named in the certificate is an inspector appointed under section 124 or an auxiliary officer appointed under section 125—

  2. is admissible in evidence; and
    1. is, in the absence of proof to the contrary, sufficient evidence of the matters stated in it.

      1. The production of a certificate for the purposes of this section purporting to be signed by the Director-General is prima facie evidence of the certificate without proof of the signature of the person purporting to have signed it.

      2. A certificate referred to in subsection (1) is admissible in evidence only if,—

      3. at least 14 days before the hearing at which the certificate is to be tendered, a copy of that certificate is served, by or on behalf of the prosecutor, on the defendant or the defendant's agent or counsel, and that person is at the same time informed in writing that the prosecutor does not propose to call the person who signed the certificate as a witness at the hearing; and
        1. the court has not, on the application of the defendant made not less than 7 days before the hearing, ordered, not less than 4 days before the hearing (or such lesser period as the court in the special circumstances of the case thinks fit), that the certificate should not be admissible as evidence in the proceedings.

          1. The court may not make an order under subsection (3)(b) unless the court is satisfied that there is a reasonable doubt as to the accuracy or validity of the relevant certificate.

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