Criminal Law

Breaking any of our lockdown laws can be an expensive business, risking heavy penalties. If you are accused of a contravention and offered the option of paying an “admission of guilt” fine to avoid a court appearance, beware! It may seem like the easy way out to pay up and put the whole thing behind you but it could land you with a criminal record. Read more: Traffic Fines and Admissions of Guilt – Will They Earn You a Criminal Record? You really don’t want to have a criminal record! Having a criminal record comes with serious and lifelong negative…

Most people living with a criminal record will be able to explain precisely how the smallest of criminal offences can have a big impact on your life.  All is however not lost.  You can apply to have the offence removed from your record and lead a normal, record-free life. What does Expungement of a criminal record mean? Expungement of a criminal record is a process by which a criminal record of a convicted offender is expunged (or removed) from the criminal record database of the Criminal Record Centre of the South African Police Service (SAPS). Although this service is rendered…

It is tempting sometimes to think that the high levels of criminal activity plaguing us at every level of our society are here to stay and that it is pointless reporting crime when you fall victim to it. But if we don’t all report crime when it happens, and if we don’t keep following up to ensure proper investigation and prosecution, we hamstring our courts. And that is self-defeating, because give our courts a chance to crack down hard on criminals and that is exactly what they do. A recent Supreme Court of Appeal decision is only one of many…

We live our lives beset by so many laws and regulations that even the most law-abiding of citizens will sooner or later be accused of some petty offence or other and then faced with the question “Do I fight this in court or do I just pay the fine and get on with it?” Tread carefully here – paying a fine and getting it over and done with is one thing - burdening yourself with a criminal record for life is an entirely different kettle of fish. We discuss the expungement option, when you are at risk of acquiring a…

We are all of us tired of reading about the rampant corruption in our society, and even if you aren’t one of the many businesses or individuals directly affected, everyone is ultimately a victim. Let’s take heart then from two recent Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) decisions. Firstly, to set the scene - Minimum sentences for corruption Corruption in terms of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act is an offence which, when more than R500,000 is involved, carries a minimum sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment, even for first offenders, “unless there are substantial and compelling reasons justifying a…

Victims of sexual abuse are often so deeply traumatised and intimidated that they either never report the crimes, or take decades to go to the police. And that, until now, has been a major source of injustice in our legal system, because section 18 of our Criminal Procedure Act (CPA) provides that the right to prosecute crimes lapses after 20 years except for a specified list of serious offences - murder, treason, aggravated robbery, kidnapping, child stealing, rape/”compelled rape”, genocide/war crimes, people trafficking, and pornography involving children or mentally disabled people. The end result has been that many desperate and…