Singapore legislation
Section 364
Section 364
Procedure where person able to give material evidence is dangerously ill
(1)
Whenever it appears to a Magistrate that any person able to give material evidence either for the prosecution or defence touching a seizable offence is so dangerously ill that it is not practicable to take his evidence according to the usual course of law, any Magistrate may take the deposition of that person provided such reasonable notice as the case admits of has been given to the prosecutor and the accused of his intention to take it and of the time and place at which he intends to take it.
(2)
If the accused is in custody, a Judge or a Magistrate may order the officer in charge of the prison to convey him to the place and at the time notified and that officer shall convey him accordingly.
(3)
When it is proved at the trial of that accused for any offence to which that deposition relates that the deponent is dead or that for any sufficient cause his attendance cannot be procured, the deposition may be read either for or against the accused notwithstanding his absence when it was taken if it is certified under the hand of the Magistrate who took it and the contrary is not proved or if it is shown by extrinsic evidence that —
the deponent was at the time of his examination dangerously ill as aforesaid;
the said deposition was duly taken at the place and time notified; and
reasonable notice of the intention to take it was given to the person against whom it is tendered in evidence so that he or his advocate might have been present and might have had, if he had chosen to be present, full opportunity of cross-examination.[363