This article is written and reviewed by experienced criminal defence lawyers and is not intended to be relied upon as legal advice. For legal advice, call our office for a consultation.
With the proliferation of smartphones and encrypted messaging platforms, electronic communications, including SMS, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Signal and other app-based messages, are increasingly relied upon in criminal proceedings as evidence. Text message evidence can be highly persuasive and may strengthen or weaken the prosecution case in criminal trials.
However, like all evidence, it must satisfy the safeguards under the Evidence Act 1995 (NSW) before it can be admitted as evidence in a District Court trial or Local Court hearing. The evidence must first be “Relevant”. If the Evidence “relevant”, it may nonetheless still be excluded under the discretionary exclusionary provisions under the Evidence Act 1995 (NSW).
