| (a) | a summons is issued against an accused under section 54 (in this section referred to as the summons) and the public prosecutor or the clerk of the court concerned on reasonable grounds believes that a magistrate’s court, on convicting the accused of the offence in question, will not impose a fine exceeding the amount determined by the Minister from time to time by notice in the Gazette, and such public prosecutor or clerk of the court endorses the summons to the effect that the accused may admit his guilt in respect of the offence in question and that he may pay a fine stipulated on the summons in respect of such offence without appearing in court; or |
[Section 57(1)(a) substituted by section 6(a) of Act No. 5 of 1991]
| (b) | a written notice under section 56 (in this section referred to as the written notice) is handed to the accused and the endorsement in terms of paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of that section purports to have been made by a peace officer, |
the accused may, without appearing in court, admit his guilt in respect of the offence in question by paying the fine stipulated (in this section referred to as the admission of guilt fine) either to the clerk of the magistrate’s court which has jurisdiction or at any police station within the area of jurisdiction of that court or, if the summons or written notice in question is endorsed to the effect that the fine may be paid at a specified local authority, at such local authority.
(2)
| (a) | The summons or the written notice may stipulate that the admission of guilt fine shall be paid before a date specified in the summons or written notice, as the case may be. |
| (b) | An admission of guilt fine may be accepted by the clerk of the court concerned notwithstanding that the date referred to in paragraph (a) or the date on which the accused should have appeared in court has expired. |
| (i) | Subject to the provisions of subparagraphs (ii) and (iii), an accused who intends to pay an admission of guilt fine in terms of subsection (1), shall surrender the summons or the written notice, as the case may be, at the time of the payment of the fine. |
| (ii) | If the summons or written notice, as the case may be, is lost or is not available and the copy thereof known as the control document— |
| (aa) | is not available at the place of payment referred to in subsection (1), the accused shall surrender a copy of the summons or written notice, as the case may be, at the time of the payment of the fine; or |
| (bb) | is available at the place of payment referred to in subsection (1), the admission of guilt fine may be accepted without the surrender of a copy of the summons or written notice, as the case may be. |
| (iii) | If an accused in respect of whom a warrant has been endorsed in terms of section 55(2A) intends to pay the relevant admission of guilt fine, the clerk of the court may, after he has satisfied himself that the warrant is so endorsed, accept the admission of guilt fine without the surrender of the summons, written notice or copy thereof, as the case may be. |
| (b) | A copy referred to in paragraph (a)(ii) may be obtained by the accused at the magistrate's court, police station or local authority where the copy of the summons or written notice in question known as the control document is filed. |
| (c) | Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1), an accused referred to in paragraph (a)(iii) may pay the admission of guilt fine in question to the clerk of the court where he appears in consequence of such warrant, and if the said clerk of the court is not the clerk of the magistrate’s court referred to in subsection (1), he shall transfer such admission of guilt fine to the latter clerk of the magistrate’s court. |
[Section 57(3)(c) substituted by section 2(b) of Act No. 26 of 1987]
[Section 57(3) substituted by section 6 of Act No. 33 of 1986]
| (4) | No provision of this section shall be construed as preventing a public prosecutor attached to the court concerned from reducing an admission of guilt fine on good cause shown. |
(5)
| (a) | An admission of guilt fine stipulated in respect of a summons or a written notice shall be in accordance with a determination which the magistrate of the district or area in question may from time to time make in respect of any offence or, if the magistrate has not made such a determination, in accordance with an amount determined in respect of any particular summons or any particular written notice by either a public prosecutor attached to the court of such magistrate or a police official of or above the rank of noncommissioned officer attached to a police station within the magisterial district or area in question or, in the absence of such a police official at any such police station, by the senior police official then in charge at such police station. |
| (b) | An admission of guilt fine determined under paragraph (a) shall not exceed the maximum of the fine prescribed in respect of the offence in question or the amount determined by the Minister from time to time by notice in the Gazette, whichever is the lesser. |
[Section 57(5)(b) substituted by section 6(b) of Act No. 5 of 1991]
| (6) | An admission of guilt fine paid at a police station or a local authority in terms of subsection (1) and the summons or, as the case may be, the written notice surrendered under subsection (3), shall, as soon as is expedient, be forwarded to the clerk of the magistrate’s court which has jurisdiction, and such clerk of the court shall thereafter, as soon as is expedient, enter the essential particulars of such summons or, as the case may be, such written notice and of any summons or written notice surrendered to the clerk of the court under subsection (3), in the criminal record book for admissions of guilt, whereupon the accused concerned shall, subject to the provisions of subsection (7), be deemed to have been convicted and sentenced by the court in respect of the offence in question. |
| (7) | The judicial officer presiding at the court in question shall examine the documents and if it appears to him that a conviction or sentence under subsection (6) is not in accordance with justice or that any such sentence, except as provided in subsection (4), is not in accordance with a determination made by the magistrate under subsection (5) or, where the determination under that subsection has not been made by the magistrate, that the sentence is not adequate, such judicial officer may set aside the conviction and sentence and direct that the accused be prosecuted in the ordinary course, whereupon the accused may be summoned to answer such charge as the public prosecutor may deem fit to prefer: Provided that where the admission of guilt fine which has been paid exceeds the amount determined by the magistrate under subsection (5), the said judicial officer may, in lieu of setting aside the conviction and sentence in question, direct that the amount by which the said admission of guilt fine exceeds the said determination be refunded to the accused concerned. |
