Is it illegal for criminal defendant to approach the prosecution witnesses?
<p>Is there any law that prevents criminal defendants (where they are remanded at large or on bail without corresponding conditions) or their lawyers from talking to the prosecution witnesses?</p>
<p>I note that <a href="https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2000/0038/latest/DLM68904.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">s 8(1)(a)(ii) of the Bail Act 2000</a> says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In considering whether there is just cause for continued detention,
the court must take into account ... whether there is a risk that ...
the <strong>defendant may interfere with witnesses</strong> or evidence</p>
</blockquote>
<p>(emphasis added)</p>
<p>— which sort of implies that defendants cannot approach witnesses.</p>
<p>Also, the <a href="https://www.justice.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Publications/NZLS-19-Mar-2013-Giving-Evidence.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Giving Evidence</a> guideline from the Ministry of Justice says at page 3:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If the defendant or anyone else tries to contact you or hassles you
about being a witness and about your evidence, contact the police or
the lawyer handling the case immediately.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Notwithstanding with all the above, I am struggling to find a law that would make it illegal for the defence or defendant to approach prosecution witnesses and talk. What am I missing?</p>

<p>Suspects and prosecution or defence witnesses may share the same household, work together or come in to contact in any number of ways, and in <a href="/questions/tagged/england-and-wales" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged &#39;england-and-wales&#39;" rel="tag">england-and-wales</a> (which has a comparable criminal justice system to <a href="/questions/tagged/new-zealand" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged &#39;new-zealand&#39;" rel="tag">new-zealand</a>) there is no law <em>per se</em> preventing them from talking with each other - unless it involves intimidation, harrassment, perverting the course of justice, or the suspect is subjected to specific bail conditions preventing any and all contact with a witness or witnesses.</p>
<ul>
<li>Witness intimidation is an offence contrary to <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1994/33/section/51?timeline=false" rel="nofollow noreferrer">s.51 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994</a>:</li>
</ul>
<blockquote>
<p>(1) A person commits an offence if—</p>
<p>(a) he does an act which intimidates, and is intended to intimidate,
another person (“the victim”),</p>
<p>(b) he does the act knowing or believing that the victim is assisting
in the investigation of an offence or is a witness or potential
witness or a juror or potential juror in proceedings for an offence,
and</p>
<p>(c) he does it intending thereby to cause the investigation or the
course of justice to be obstructed, perverted or interfered with.</p>
</blockquote>
<ul>
<li>Harassment falls under the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1997/40/section/1?timeline=false" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Protection from Harassment Act 1997</a> and can be summarised to include:</li>
</ul>
<blockquote>
<p>conduct to persuade any person not to do something that they are
entitled or required to do, or to do something that they are not under
any obligation to do.</p>
</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/public-justice-offences-incorporating-charging-standard#_Toc536105663" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Perverting the Course of Justice</a>, under Common Law, is an offence to:</li>
</ul>
<blockquote>
<p>conspire, act or embark upon a course of conduct which has a tendency
to, and is intended to pervert, the course of public justice.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>(NB in England and Wales there is no such thing as <em>attempting</em> to pervert the course of justice - it's either done or it's not.)</p>
<p>Also, the <a href="https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/interviewing-witnesses-other-side#:%7E:text=Whether%20or%20not%20a%20witness,take%20statements%20from%20those%20witnesses." rel="nofollow noreferrer">Prosecution and Defence</a>, the former usually via the police, may:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>interview each other's witnesses or prospective witnesses; and May
take statements from those witnesses. However, each party must ensure
that no attempt is made to persuade the witness to change his/her
story.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>Interfere</strong> appears six times in the England and Wales <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1976/63" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Bail Act 1976</a> - five in the phrase <em>&quot;interfere with witnesses or otherwise obstruct the course of justice&quot;</em> and once in <em>&quot;where defendant may fail to surrender to custody, commit offences on bail or interfere with witnesses&quot;</em>.  It, or its various forms, also appears nine times in the New Zealand <a href="https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2000/0038/latest/whole.html#DLM68904" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Bail Act 2000</a> in a similar context which, in my opinion, implies a nefarious or illicit action distinct from &quot;<em>just having an innocent chat.</em>&quot;</p>
<p><em>Interfere</em> is not defined by either Bail Act, so the convention applied by the UK courts is to use the common everyday meaning by reference to the Oxford English Dictionary. Such <a href="https://www.lexico.com/definition/interfere" rel="nofollow noreferrer">definitions</a> include to <em>intervene in a situation without invitation or necessity</em> and to <em>prevent (a process or activity) from continuing or being carried out properly</em>. </p>

criminal-law new-zealand witnesses