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CRIMINAL PROCEDURE (COMMITTAL FOR TRIAL) ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1968 - SECT 3



3.(1) A magistrates' court conducting a preliminary enquiry may admit the
statement of the evidence to be given by a witness to the like extent as oral
evidence to the like effect by that person if the conditions set forth in
subsection (2) are complied with.

(2) The said conditions are

(a)the statement shall be in writing,

(b)the statement shall purport to be signed by the person who made it,

(c)the statement shall contain a declaration by that person to the effect that
it is true to the best of his knowledge and belief and that he made the
statement knowing that, if it were tendered in evidence, whether at a
preliminary enquiry or at the trial of the accused, he would be liable to
prosecution if he wilfully said in it anything which he knew to be false or
did not believe to be true which declaration shall be endorsed with the
signature of the person who recorded the statement, or to whom the statement
was delivered by the maker of the statement for the purposes of the
proceedings, and

(d)none of the parties objects to the statement being admitted in evidence
upon a ground which would constitute a valid objection to oral evidence to the
like effect as the contents of the statement.

(3) The following provisions shall also have effect in relation to any written
statement tendered in evidence, that is to say

(a)if the statement is made by a person under the age of twenty-one his age
shall be set forth in the statement,

(b)if it is made by a person who cannot read, it shall be read to him before
he signs it and shall be accompanied by a declaration by the person who so
read the statement to the effect that it was so read and that after it was so
read the maker of the statement assented to it.

(4) Any document or object referred to as an exhibit and identified in a
written statement tendered in evidence shall be treated as if it had been
produced as an exhibit and identified in court by the maker of the statement.

(5) Nothing in this section shall prevent the giving in evidence of any
confession, or other statement, made at any time by the accused which is
admissible in law against him.


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© 1968 Crown Copyright

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