Criminal Procedure Act, 1977 (Act No. 51 of 1977)Chapter 25 : Conversion of Trial into Enquiry255. Court may order enquiry under Prevention and Treatment of Drug Dependency Act, 1992 |
| (1) |
| (a) | If in any court during the trial of a person who is charged with an offence, other than an offence referred to in section 18, it appears to the judge or judicial officer presiding at the trial that such person is probably a person as is described in section 21(1) of the Prevention and Treatment of Drug Dependency Act, 1992 (in this section referred to as the said Act), the judge or judicial officer, may, with the consent of the prosecutor given after consultation with a social worker as defined in section 1 of the said Act, stop the trial and order that an enquiry be held in terms of section 22 of the said Act in respect of the person concerned by a magistrate as defined in section 1 of the said Act and indicated in the order. |
[Section 255(1)(a) substituted by section 32 of Act No. 105 of 1997]
| (b) | The prosecutor shall not give his consent in terms of paragraph (a) if the person concerned is a person in respect of whom the imposition of punishment of imprisonment would be compulsory if he were convicted at such trial. |
| (2) |
| (a) | If the person concerned is in custody he shall for all purposes be deemed to have been arrested in terms of a warrant issued under section 21(1) of the said Act and shall as soon as practicable be brought before the said magistrate. |
| (b) | If the person concerned is not in custody the said judge or judicial officer shall determine the time when and the place where the person concerned shall appear before the said magistrate, and he shall thereafter for all purposes be deemed to have been summoned in terms of section 21(1) of the said Act to appear before the said magistrate at the time and place so determined. |
| (3) | As soon as possible after an order has been made under subsection (1) of this section, a prosecutor attached to the court of the said magistrate shall obtain a report as is mentioned in section 21(2) of the said Act. |
| (4) | The provisions of the said Act shall mutatis mutandis apply in respect of a person who appears before a magistrate, as defined in section 1 of the said Act, in pursuance of an order made under subsection (1) of this section as if he were a person brought before the said magistrate in terms of section 21(1) of the said Act and as if the report obtained in terms of subsection (3) of this section were a report obtained in terms of section 21(2) of the said Act. |
| (5) | If an order is made under subsection (1) in the course of a trial, whether before or after conviction, and a magistrate under the said Act orders that the person concerned be detained in a treatment centre or registered treatment centre, the proceedings at the trial shall be null and void in so far as such person is concerned. |
| (6) | A copy of the record of the proceedings at the trial, certified or purporting to be certified by the registrar or clerk of the court or other officer having custody of the record of such proceedings or by the deputy of such registrar, clerk or other officer or, in the case where the proceedings were taken down in shorthand or by mechanical means, by the person who transcribed the proceedings, as a true copy of such record, may be produced at the said enquiry as evidence. |
[Section 255 substituted by section 60 of Act No. 20 of 1992]