Refusing or failing to comply with a requirement made or direction given by a police officer under a crime scene warrant is an offence under section 96(2) of the Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act 2002 which carries a maximum penalty equivalent to a fine of 10 penalty units.
To establish the offence, the prosecution must prove beyond reasonable doubt that:
Crime scene warrants authorise police and those they direct to enter a specified premises and establish a crime scene, as well as to:
(a) direct a person to leave or remove a vehicle, vessel or aircraft from a crime scene,
(b) remove a person who fails to comply with a direction to leave or remove a vehicle, vessel or aircraft from a crime scene,
(c) direct a person not to enter the crime scene,
(d) prevent a person from entering the crime scene,
(e) prevent a person from removing evidence from or otherwise interfering with the crime scene or anything in it and, for that purpose, detain and search the person,
(f) remove or cause to be removed an obstruction from a crime scene,
(g) perform any necessary investigation, including, for example, search the crime scene and inspect anything in it to obtain evidence of the commission of an offence,
(h) for the purpose of performing any necessary investigation, conduct any examination or process at a crime scene,
(i) open anything that is locked at a crime scene,
(j) take electricity, gas or any other utility, for use at the crime scene,
(k) direct the occupier or a person involved in the management or control of the premises to maintain a continuous supply of electricity at a crime scene,
(l) photograph or otherwise record anything at a crime scene,
(m) seize and detain all or part of a thing that might provide evidence of the commission of an offence,
(n) dig up anything at a crime scene,
(o) remove wall or ceiling linings or floors of a building, or panels of a vehicle at a crime scene,
(p) perform any other function reasonably necessary or incidental to the foregoing.
You are not guilty of the offence of refusing or failing to comply with a requirement made or direction given by a police officer under a crime scene warrant if you establish, on the balance of probabilities, that you had a reasonable excuse for your conduct.
General legal defences to the offence include duress, necessity and self-defence.
If you are able to raise evidence of a general legal defence, the onus then shifts to the prosecution to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defence does not apply to the circumstances of the case.
You are entitled to an acquittal if the prosecution is unable to do this.