1 Feb 2007, 09:00

A man was convicted of possession of an offensive weapon, threatening to kill, and arson. Following his conviction and imprisonment, he made an access request to Police for his file under principle 6 of the Privacy Act. Police gave him his file except for the victim impact statement. The man asked me to investigate.

Section 23(4) of the Victims' Rights Act 2002 provides that no offender can use the Privacy Act to gain access to a victim impact statement relating to them.

Section 7(2) of the Privacy Act provides that privacy principles 6 or 11 do not affect any other statutory provision that prohibits or restricts the availability of personal information. Section 23(4) of the Victim's Rights Act is exactly such a type of statutory provision. The effect is that section 23(4) overrides the access rights set out in the Privacy Act. The man was not entitled to see the victim impact statement.

I notified the man of my decision and closed my file.

June 2007

Access to personal information – Refusal – Victims' Rights Act 2002, s 23(4) – Privacy Act 1993, principle 6, section 7(2)