Arrest- Upon arrest by a law enforcement agency, an accused person (the Defendant) must either be brought for mention before a Magistrate or be released on bail within 48 hours of the arrest.
First Mention in Court- A Mention is when a case is mentioned in court before a Magistrate.
- At the first Mention, the Defendant can be remanded further by the court pending the completion of investigations.
- When investigations are already completed, the prosecution must file the charges against the Defendant. If the charges are not ready yet, the Defendant can be released on court bail.
- Once the charges are filed, the charges and the penalty will be read to the Defendant in the language they prefer by the court interpreter. The Defendant will then either enter a plea of guilty or not guilty.
Pleading Guilty- Pleading guilty means admitting fully to the charges.
- After pleading guilty, the Statement of Facts (SOF) will be read out to the Defendant.
- The SOF is a summary of the case put forward by the prosecution.
- After the SOF is read out, the Defendant will be asked if they accept all of the facts.
- If any part of the SOF is disagreed, the Defendant must inform the court. If the disagreed part is essential to the charge, the Magistrate may reject the guilty plea and proceed to trial instead.
- If the SOF is agreed, the Defendant will be convicted of the charge.
Pleading Not Guilty- Pleading not guilty means the Defendant does not admit to the charges and wishes to challenge the charges at trial.
- The case will be adjourned for Case Management where it will be assigned to a Trial Magistrate to set trial dates.
- The Trial Magistrate will decide if the Defendant is guilty or not.
Conviction and Sentence- When a Defendant has pleaded guilty or is found guilty after trial, the Magistrate will enter a conviction against them.
- The Defendant will then be given an opportunity to give their plea in mitigation. The plea in mitigation is an opportunity for the Defendant to speak and to persuade the court to impose a lenient sentence.
- The Magistrate will then determine on an appropriate sentence. The Magistrate may deliver sentence immediately or defer to another day.
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