| (1) | If an accused who is alleged to have committed an offence has appeared in court and is— |
| (a) | in custody awaiting trial on that charge and not on another more serious charge; |
the public prosecutor may, before the accused has entered a plea and if he or she on reasonable grounds believes that a magistrate's court, on convicting such accused of that offence, will not impose a fine exceeding the amount determined by the Minister from time to time by notice in the Gazette, hand to the accused a written notice, or cause such notice to be delivered to the accused by a peace officer, containing an endorsement in terms of section 57 that the accused may admit his or her guilt in respect of the offence in question and that he or she may pay a stipulated fine in respect thereof without appearing in court again.
| (2) | Such notice shall contain— |
| (b) | a certificate under the hand of the prosecutor or peace officer affirming that he or she handed or delivered, as the case may be, the original of such notice to the accused and that he or she explained to the accused the import thereof; and |
| (c) | the particulars and instructions contemplated in paragraphs (a) and (b) of section 56(1). |
| (3) | The public prosecutor shall endorse the charge-sheet to the effect that a notice contemplated in this section has been issued and he or she or the peace officer, as the case may be, shall forthwith forward a duplicate original of the notice to the clerk of the court which has jurisdiction. |
| (4) | The provisions of sections 55, 56(2) and (4) and 57(2) to (7), inclusive, shall apply mutatis mutandis to the relevant written notice handed or delivered to an accused under subsection (1) as if, in respect of section 57, such notice were the written notice contemplated in that section and as if the fine stipulated in such written notice were also the admission of guilt fine contemplated in that section. |
[Section 57A inserted by section 1 of Act No. 86 of 1996]
