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Substance Addiction (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 2017

Assessment and treatment of persons suffering from severe substance addiction - Procedure

82: Power of court to call witnesses

You could also call this:

"The court can ask people to share information to help make a decision"

Illustration for Substance Addiction (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 2017

The court can ask someone to be a witness if they think that person's evidence will help. You have the right to refuse to answer some questions if you are called as a witness by the court. The court can ask you questions, and other people involved in the case can also ask you questions.

If the court asks you to be a witness, you can be treated like any other witness. This means that some rules from the Criminal Procedure Act 2011, like sections 161 to 165, will apply to you. The court will use these rules to decide how to treat you as a witness.

If you are called as a witness by the court, you may be able to get some money to cover your expenses. This money will come from public funds, and it will be given to you according to a set scale of expenses for witnesses.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM6609234.

Topics:
Crime and justice > Courts and legal helpHealth and wellbeing > Mental health
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Part 2Assessment and treatment of persons suffering from severe substance addiction
Procedure

82Power of court to call witnesses

  1. The court may, on its own initiative, call as a witness any person whose evidence may in its opinion be of assistance to the court.

  2. A witness called by the court under this section has the same privilege to refuse to answer any question as the witness would have if called by a party.

  3. A witness called by the court under this section may be examined and re-examined by the court, and may be cross-examined by or on behalf of any party.

  4. Sections 159 and 161 to 165 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2011, so far as they are applicable and with all necessary modifications, apply with respect to a person called as a witness by the court under this section as if that person had been called by a party.

  5. The expenses of a witness called by the court under this section must be met in the first instance, in accordance with the prescribed scale of witnesses' expenses, out of public money appropriated by Parliament for the purpose.

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