The Act: Section by Section Section 4: Information to be provided before examination
28.The effect of subsections (2) and (3) is that health boards must (before the process of collecting evidence begins) make victims fully aware of what may happen to the evidence collected during a forensic medical examination. In police-referral cases, a constable will request the transfer of the evidence under section 9. In self-referral cases, evidence is not transferred to the police until such time as the victim reports the incident to the police, and a constable subsequently requests a transfer of evidence under section 9. Until that time, the victim can request the return of certain items to them under section 7 or the destruction of stored evidence under section 8(1)(a). The information to be provided to the victim under subsection (2) includes information about these rights. In addition, the victim must be informed that, if the return or destruction of evidence is not requested by the victim, and no police report is made, the stored evidence will, after a period of time, be destroyed under section 8(1)(b).
29.Subsection (4) ensures that failure to comply with subsection (2) does not, by itself, mean that any evidence collected during the examination is inadmissible in subsequent proceedings in relation to the incident which gave rise to the examination. The ability to challenge the admissibility of evidence on any other grounds is preserved.