Section 15: Prohibition of personal conduct of defence in proofs ordered in relation to victim statements in cases of certain sexual offences
67.Subsection (2) amends the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 to prohibit the accused in certain sexual offence cases from personally questioning a victim on the content of their victim statement in any proof on the victim statement called after the accused is found or pleads guilty. The provisions that are being amended were inserted into the 1995 Act by the Sexual Offences (Procedures and Evidence) Act 2002, which made provision to prevent the accused questioning the victim in relation to these offences during the trial.
68.Section 15 also amends the 1995 Act to give the court power to appoint a solicitor for the purposes of his/her defence at any such proof on the victim statement if he/she does not have a solicitor for the reasons specified in section 288D(2)(a) of the 1995 Act.
