CHAPTER 10
ADMISSION OF GUILT
Admission of guilt and payment of fine without appearance in court
59. (1) Where -
(a) a summons is issued against an accused under section 56 (in this section referred to as a summons) and the public prosecutor concerned on reasonable grounds believes that a district court, on convicting the accused of the offence in question, will not impose a sentence of imprisonment only or of a fine exceeding N$3 000, and that public prosecutor endorses the summons to the effect that the accused may admit his or her guilt in respect of the offence in question and that the accused may pay a fine stipulated in the summons in respect of that offence without appearing in court ; or
(b) a written notice under section 58 (in this section referred to as a 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 or her guilt in respect of the offence in question by paying the fine so stipulated (in this section referred to as an admission of guilt fine) either to the clerk of the district court having jurisdiction or at any police station within the area of jurisdiction of that court.
(2) (a) A summons or written notice may stipulate that the admission of guilt must be paid before a date specified in the summons or written notice.
(b) An admission of guilt fine may be accepted by the clerk of the court concerned, notwithstanding the fact that the date referred to in paragraph (a) or the date on which the accused should have appeared in court has expired.
(3) An admission of guilt fine may not be accepted under subsection (1) or (2)(b), unless the accused surrenders the relevant summons or written notice at the time of the payment of the fine.
(4) (a) An admission of guilt fine stipulated in respect of a summons or written notice must be in accordance with a determination that the magistrate of the magisterial district in question may from time to time make in respect of any offence or, if that 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 that magistrate or a member of the police of the rank of commissioned officer attached to a police station within the magisterial district in question or, in the absence of such a member of the police at any such police station, by the member of the police in charge of that police station.
(b) An admission of guilt fine determined under paragraph (a) may not exceed the maximum of the fine prescribed in respect of the offence in question or the amount of N$3 000, whichever is the lesser.
(5) An admission of guilt fine paid at a police station in terms of subsection (1) and the relevant summons or written notice surrendered under subsection (3), must, as soon as is expedient, be forwarded to the clerk of the district court having jurisdiction, and that clerk of the court must thereafter, as soon as is expedient, enter the essential particulars of that summons or 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 is, subject to subsection (6), deemed to have been convicted and sentenced by the court in respect of the offence in question.
(6) The magistrate presiding at the court in question must examine the documents and if it appears to that magistrate that a conviction or sentence under subsection (5) is not in accordance with justice or that any such sentence is not in accordance with a determination made by the magistrate of the magisterial district under subsection (4)(a) or, where the determination under that subsection has not been made by that magistrate, that the sentence is not adequate, the magistrate so presiding may set aside the conviction and sentence and direct that the amount of the admission of guilt fine paid by the accused be refunded to the accused and that the accused be prosecuted in the ordinary course, whereupon the accused may be summoned to answer such charge as the public prosecutor may consider fit to prefer, but where the admission of guilt fine that has been paid exceeds the amount determined by the magistrate of the magisterial district under subsection (4)(a), the magistrate so presiding may, instead of setting aside the conviction and sentence in question, direct that the amount by which the admission of guilt fine exceeds the determination so made be refunded to the accused concerned.
Admission of guilt and payment of fine after appearing in court
60. (1) Subject to subsection (2), 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 ;
(b) released on bail under section 62 or 63 ; or
(c) released on warning under section 78,
the public prosecutor concerned may, before the accused has entered a plea and if that prosecutor on reasonable grounds believes that a district court, on convicting the accused of that offence, will not impose a sentence of imprisonment only or of a fine exceeding N$3 000, 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 59 that the accused may admit his or her guilt in respect of the offence in question and that the accused may pay a fine stipulated in the written notice in respect of that offence without appearing in court again.
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to an accused who is in custody as contemplated in paragraph (a) of that subsection and in respect of whom an application for bail has been refused or bail proceedings are pending.
(3) A written notice referred to in subsection (1) must contain -
(a) the case number ;
(b) a certificate under the hand of a public prosecutor or peace officer that he or she has handed or delivered the original of such notice to the accused and that he or she has explained to the accused the import thereof ; and
(c) the particulars and instructions contemplated in paragraphs (a) and (b) of section 58(1).
(4) The public prosecutor must endorse the charge sheet to the effect that a written notice under this section has been issued, and that prosecutor or, if the written notice was delivered to the accused concerned by a peace officer, that peace officer must immediately forward a duplicate original of the written notice to the clerk of the court having jurisdiction in the matter.
(5) Sections 57, 58(2) and (4) and 59(2) to (6), inclusive, apply with the necessary changes in respect of the relevant written notice handed or delivered to an accused under subsection (1) as if, in respect of section 59, such notice were a written notice contemplated in that section and the fine stipulated in such written notice were also an admission of guilt fine contemplated in that section.
National proceedings on admission of guilt
EDIT.