(1) Section 55(1) applies whether the information contained in the document was supplied directly, or, subject to subsection (2), indirectly.
(2) Where information referred to in subsection (1) was supplied indirectly, section 55(1) only applies if each person through whom the information was supplied was acting under a duty.
(3) Information referred to in subsection (1) also applies where the person compiling the record is himself or herself the person by whom the information was supplied.
(4) Where a document referred to in subsection (1) contains evidence that a person, if called as a witness, could be expected to give and the document has been prepared for the purpose of any pending or contemplated proceedings, a statement contained in the document shall not be given in evidence without leave of the court.
(5) The court shall not give leave to admit a statement referred to in subsection (4) unless the court is of the opinion that the statement ought to be admitted in the interest of justice having regard to—
(a) the circumstances in which leave is sought and, in particular, to the contents of the statement; and
(b) the likelihood that the defendant will be prejudiced by the admission of the statement in the absence of the person who supplied the information on which the statement is based.
(6) Where in any proceedings a statement based on information supplied by any person is given in evidence by virtue of section 55—
(a) any evidence which, if the person had been called as a witness, would have been admissible as relevant to his or her credibility as a witness is admissible for that purpose in those proceedings;
(b) evidence may, with the leave of the court, be given of any matter which, if the person had been called as a witness, would have been put to him or her in cross-examination as relevant to his or her credibility as a witness but of which evidence could not have been adduced by the cross-examination party; and
(c) evidence tending to prove that the person, whether before or after supplying the information, made a statement, whether oral or not, that is inconsistent with the information is admissible for the purpose of showing that the person has contradicted himself or herself.
(7) A statement that is admissible by virtue of section 55 is not capable of corroborating evidence given by the person who supplied the information on which the statement is based.
(8) In deciding for the purposes of section 55(2)(a)(i) whether a person is unfit to attend as a witness, the court may act on a certificate purporting to be signed by a registered medical practitioner.
(9) Any reference in section 55 or this Part to a person acting under a duty includes a reference to a person acting in the course of any trade, business, profession or other occupation in which he or she is engaged or employed or for the purposes of any paid or unpaid office held by him or her.
(10) In estimating the weight, if any, to be attached to a statement admissible in evidence by virtue of section 55, regard shall be had to all the circumstances from which any inference can reasonably be drawn as to the accuracy or otherwise of the statement and, in particular—
(a) to the question whether or not the person who supplied the information from which the record containing the statement was compiled did so contemporaneously with the occurrence or existence of the facts dealt with in that information; and
(b) to the question whether or not that person, or any other person concerned with compiling or keeping the record containing the statement, had any incentive to conceal or misrepresent the facts.