The Hodgman Liberal Government will help reduce the level of stress from court processes for victims of sexual offences under changes to the Criminal Code Act 1924 and Evidence Act 2001.
A draft bill has now been released for public comment that will mean victims of multiple sexual offences only need to give evidence in one trial, provided the charges are under the same indictment.
These are common sense changes that will make the court process less stressful for vulnerable victims who have already suffered enough.
Specifically, the draft Bill amends the Criminal Code Act 1924 to:
* establish a presumption that when two or more charges for sexual offences are joined together in the same indictment those charges are to be tried together; and
* provide that this presumption is not rebutted merely because evidence on one charge is inadmissible in relation to another charge.
The draft Bill also amends the Evidence Act 2001, removing a barrier that prevents the prosecution from admitting evidence of multiple victims against a single accused person.
The Bill is available on the Department of Justice website www.justice.tas.gov.au along with details of how to provide feedback.
The closing date for the consultation process is 28 June 2017.