Cape Town - Echoing findings made in a recent perception survey, Western Cape High Court Judge Daniel Thulare said in a scathing judgment for which a conviction and sentence was set aside, that “the path to justice is not accessible to all”.
Judge Thulare recently set aside the conviction and sentence handed to a BCom student who had a criminal record against his name after he was found in possession of dagga in 2015.
The criminal record, said to have created a negative impact on the student’s future, came about after he unknowingly paid an admission of guilt fine, while the student believed he had paid a bail amount to SAPS at the time of his arrest.
The student had been found by a police officer who was doing foot patrols, “preparing what seemed to him like a zol of dagga” and after a search of the vehicle uncovered “a minimal amount of dagga inside some gold dagga smoking material”.
The student was arrested and taken to Camps Bay SAPS where an admission of guilt fine was determined at R150.
The student submitted that he was terrified of staying in the cells until the Monday morning and so paid the amount.
“He was under the impression that he had paid bail and he did not know that he was actually paying an admission of guilt.
“It was not explained to him that by paying the admission of guilt he would have a criminal conviction and a criminal record.
“If he had known that he was paying an admission of guilt which would lead to a criminal record, he would not have paid the admission of guilt. It was only in 2016 when he applied for a job that he discovered that he had a criminal record.
“He is now a BCom student at (a private tertiary institution) and the criminal record will have a negative impact on his future,” the judgment read.
Thulare further ordered that the R150 he paid as a fine be refunded to the student.
In the perception survey, SA’s magistrates responding to questions on ‘Magistrates’ Perceptions of Prosecutors’, they indicated that officials are committing a miscarriage of justice by not ensuring justice is being done - suggesting that these officers of justice are corrupt or incompetent.
Cape Times