NSW Can i be prosecuted for admitting to knowledge of an offence?

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Philly2020

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27 April 2018
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I am in family law court. I now have write an affidavit to support an injunction. My ex-husband used to illegally grow hydroponic marijuana in the home we shared. I was aware of it, but not involved with it. If I admit knowledge of this, can I get in trouble?
 

Rod

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Yes. Can you avoid mentioning it?
 

sammy01

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27 September 2015
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It shows a history of a particular behaviour from you too. Can you get in trouble? No. But neither can the ex... If this is part of a strategy to keep the kids away from dad I reckon you might want to re-think your strategy...
 

Scruff

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25 July 2018
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Can you get in trouble? No. But neither can the ex...
Wrong on both counts.

The ex can be done for cultivating under various sections of Division 2 of the Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act. Many of the offences carry max penalties greater than 5 years imprisonment, making them "serious indictable offences".

The OP can therefore be done for "Concealing a serious indictable offence" under s316 of the Crimes Act.

No matter how unlikely, it "could" happen which is what the OP asked.
 

sammy01

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27 September 2015
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I disagree. (Kinda).. 5 yrs jail based on some allegations from an ex? Not likely at all....

Sure it 'could' but likely? and probably more importantly given the context here is asking whether or not this person can 'use' this information in family law for some reason that has not been explained.

I still think my advice is good. Don't bother. Different story if the ex fed the kids pot to get them to eat / sleep / laugh or some other crazy reason... But that ain't the case... So let's move on and work on what can be done to keep this stuff out of court. I have an idea... If it is about keeping a kid away from their dad, I have a solution. Don't bother, let the kid have a dad.
Easy...
 

Rod

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Issue here is whether the court may refer the OP to police for the laying of criminal charges. This is not about jail based on material in an affidavit, but whether police can use the material as a starting point for investigations and possible laying of charges after their investigation.
 

Scruff

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25 July 2018
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To clarify my post,

The OP's question was:
If I admit knowledge of this, can I get in trouble?
The answer is "yes" - but the chances are remote, which I indicated by stating
No matter how unlikely, it "could" happen which is what the OP asked.

@sammy01
I disagree. (Kinda).. 5 yrs jail based on some allegations from an ex? Not likely at all....
As @Rod pointed out, statements made in a court case "could" be grounds to initiate an investigation. Given the OP's question, they have a right to know this.

... Don't bother. Different story if the ex fed the kids pot to get them to eat / sleep / laugh or some other crazy reason... But that ain't the case... So let's move on and work on what can be done to keep this stuff out of court. I have an idea... If it is about keeping a kid away from their dad, I have a solution. Don't bother, let the kid have a dad.
I would expect that any reasonable person would view this as nothing but assumptions and sarcasm - and it's in no way helpful to the OP.

If we are here to help, then great, but we must all accept that people may have different opinions on the subject matter, and statements like this are not appropriate and are not helpful to the OP.
 
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sammy01

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Actually, given this is a family law forum, I reckon I can paraphrase the question along the lines of.... My ex used to grow plants, I want to use that against him now for andvantage in family court.... Is this a good idea? And my answer was that bringing up history in family law is best avoided...

On a happier note. I totally agree that "we must all accept that people MAY have differenet opinons on the subject matter..." U'm unless that opinion varies from your's? U'm how does that work? The hyperbole served the purpose of indicating my opinion of when pot could be an example... A conviciton for driving under the influence with the kids in the car would also be a good example...
 

Rod

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I can, but it does show a history of particular behaviour.

Then I agree with Sammy in that it is probably not a good idea.

I must qualify my answer in that for your particular circumstances there may be good reasons for doing so, but without having interviewed you for a couple of hours I can't be certain any good reasons exist. There are risks for you in bringing up this kind of history and without more detail that is probably not appropriate for a public forum, then I'll stick with it is a bad idea.