Court : South Africa Supreme Court of Appeal
..... the bases of the appellants appeal against his sentence as set out in the notice of appeal are as follows: (a) the sentence of life imprisonment for the offence of rape is shockingly inappropriate and induces a sense of shock; (b) the court a quo erred by not taking into account that the personal circumstances of the appellant cumulatively constitutes substantial and compelling circumstances; (c) the court a quo ..... of the appellant being a first offender; (e) the court a quo erred by not taking into account that the appellant was 55-years of age when he was sentenced to life imprisonment; (f) the sentence of life imprisonment is disproportionate to the offence; and (g) the court a quo erred by over emphasising the interests of the community. ..... the court below correctly regarded the offence as a serious. ..... [3] the appellant was entirely without remorse and maintained his innocence throughout the trial, stating that he was elsewhere at the time of the alleged offence. .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : South Africa Supreme Court of Appeal
..... (b) unless the high court in question (i) is satisfied that a plea of guilty or an admission by the accused which is material to his or her guilt was incorrectly recorded; or (ii) is not satisfied that the accused is guilty of the offence of which he or she has been convicted and in respect of which he or she has been committed for sentence, the court shall make a formal finding of guilty and sentence the accused as contemplated in section 51. ..... it has obtained and considered a statement referred to in paragraph (b), may (i) confirm the conviction and thereupon impose a sentence as contemplated in section 51; (ii) alter the conviction to a conviction of another offence referred to in schedule 2and thereupon impose a sentence as contemplated in section 51; (iii) alter the conviction to a conviction of an offence other than an offence referred to in schedule 2and thereupon impose the sentence the court may deem fit; (iv) set aside the conviction; (v) remit the case to the regional court with ..... in the charge, the court may, at any time before judgment, if it considers that the making of the relevant amendment will not prejudice the accused in his defence, order that the charge, whether it discloses and offence or not, be amended, so far as it is necessary, both in that part thereof where the defect, variance, omission, insertion or error occurs and in any other part thereof which it may become necessary to amend .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : South Africa Supreme Court of Appeal
..... he further said the following: in the light of the provisions of the constitution, read with the provisions of s 59, it is clear that an accused person who has been arrested for minor offences, for which bail may be granted in terms of s 59 of the [cpa], has a right to be treated in such a way that he is considered, for purposes of obtaining bail in terms of s 59 of the ..... indeed, that is what is desirable.11but where a peace officer does effect a lawful arrest in terms of s 40(1)(a) of the cpa for what may not be considered to be a serious offence, as may be the position in the present instance, the arrest, or subsequent detention, does not become unlawful, thereby entitling a high court to order the release of the arrested person, merely because a summons, ..... section 59(1)(a) of the cpa reads: an accused who is in custody in respect of any offence, other than an offence referred to in part ii or part iii of schedule 2 may, before his or her first appearance in a lower court, be released on bail in respect of such offence by any police official of or above the rank of non-commissioned officer, in consultation with the police official charged with the investigation, if the accused deposits at the police station the sum ..... of the arrest du plessis aj referred to s 35(1)(f) of the constitution, which provides that everyone who is arrested for allegedly committing an offence has the right to be released from detention if the interests of justice permit, subject to reasonable conditions. .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : South Africa Supreme Court of Appeal
..... the sentence prescribed in those subsections, it shall enter those circumstances on the record of the proceedings and must thereupon impose such lesser sentence: provided that if a regional court imposes such a lesser sentence in respect of an offence referred to part 1 of schedule 2, it shall have jurisdiction to impose a term of imprisonment for a period not exceeding 30 years. ..... the residual discretion to decline to pass the sentence which the commission of such an offence would ordinarily attract plainly was given to the courts in recognition of the easily foreseeable injustices which could result from obliging them to pass the specified sentences come what ..... had the high court considered the triad of the offence, offender and the interests of society and sought to properly balance those against each other, the prescribed minimum sentences should have been imposed on first and third ..... london local circuit division) before kemp aj, on charges of housebreaking with intent to rob (count 1), robbery with aggravating circumstances as defined in s 1 of act 51 of 1977 (count 2) and rape in contravention of the provisions of the criminal law (sexual offences and related matters) amendment act 32 of 2007 (count 3). ..... relevant parts of s 51 of the act read as follows: (1) notwithstanding any other law, but subject to subsections (3) and (6), a regional court or a high court shall sentence a person it has convicted of an offence referred to in part i of schedule 2 to imprisonment for life. .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : South Africa Supreme Court of Appeal
..... during october 2004, when the first offence charged was committed, it was the appellant, then on maternity leave, who was the primary caregiver. ..... when the fourth offence charged was committed the appellant and her husband were assisted by their domestic helper ms franscina makara. .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : South Africa Supreme Court of Appeal
..... it has been a rule of practice in our criminal courts since at least 1887 that where the accused has committed only one offence in substance, it should not be split up and charged against him in one and the same trial as several offences.1the test is whether, taking a commonsense view of matters in the light of fairness to the accused, a single offence or more than one has been committed.2the purpose of the rule is to prevent a duplication of convictions on what is essentially a single ..... in view of the overlap that may exist between different offences under the act prosecutors must, when faced with a single incident, formulate the most appropriate charge bearing in mind the need to avoid duplication, the competent verdicts on that charge and the possibility of adding ..... judgment wallis ja (maya, tshiqi, majiedt and pillay jja concurring) [1] mr maseti was charged before ms reddy in the regional magistrates court in port elizabeth with two counts of contravening the criminal law (sexual offences and related matters) amendment act 32 of 2007 (the act). ..... in that situation it is for the prosecution to determine which of the two offences should be charged or to charge the two in the alternative. ..... the second was a charge of attempt to commit a sexual offence committed on the same day by pushing [sm] onto the bed and removing her clothes. ..... however, that charge was defective because it did not specify which sexual offence mr maseti was alleged to have committed. .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : South Africa Supreme Court of Appeal
..... and in terms of the amended ss (5) a man who made a false declaration with regard to the existence or otherwise of a customary union between him and any woman made himself guilty of an offence. .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : South Africa Supreme Court of Appeal
..... the first appellant was also convicted on a count of the contravention of s 37 of the general law amendment act 62 of 1955 (receiving stolen property), as a competent verdict on the offence the appellants had originally been charged with, namely theft of a motor vehicle. .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : South Africa Supreme Court of Appeal
..... of s 5(b) of the act a minimum sentence of 15 years imprisonment must be imposed on a first offender if it is proved that the value of the dependence-producing substance in question is more than r50 000, or more than r10 000 if it is proved that the offence was committed by a person, group of persons, syndicate or any enterprise acting in the execution or furtherance of a common purpose or conspiracy. ..... in s v homareda 1999 (2) sacr 319 (w) cloete j (robinson aj concurring) said: the type of offence of which the appellant stands convicted has the potential to ruin the lives of families in south africa. ..... [31] as to the offence, the trial court observed that the appellants were convicted of a very serious offence; that the lives of drug addicts are often destroyed by their addiction, the effects of which are not normally felt by the addicts only, but also by the members of their families and that society therefore ..... entered into a conspiracy in terms of which they would import cocaine from beyond the borders of south africa and that at all material times they acted in execution of a criminal conspiracy and/or common purpose to commit the offences mentioned in the indictment. ..... submitted that the trial court should have considered as aggravating the fact that sheryl abused her office by using the municipalitys telephone and other resources, such as data message facilities, in the commission of the offence. .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : South Africa Supreme Court of Appeal
on appeal from: western cape high court, cape town (allie j sitting as court of first instance): 1. the appeal is upheld with costs, such costs to include the costs of two counsel. 2. the order of the court a quo dismissing the application with costs is set aside and replaced by the following order: (a) the respondent is interdicted and restrained from infringing the first applicants rights acquired by the registration of trademarks numbers 1957/01959, 1995/12283, 1980/6446 and 2000/18582 (the registered trademarks) by using in the course of trade in relation to goods for which the registered trademarks are registered, a mark consisting of four parallel stripes of a colour or material different from the colour or material of the footwear, and on the outside of the uppers of the footwear, to which they are applied, as represented in annexures tb8 and tb9 to the founding affidavit of timothy george james behean (the infringing marks) or any other mark so nearly resembling the registered trademarks as to be likely to deceive or cause confusion as contemplated in s 34(1)(a) of the trade marks act 194 of 1993 (the act); (b) the respondent is directed to remove the infringing marks from its footwear and, where the infringing marks are inseparable or incapable of being removed from the respondents footwear, it is ordered that all such footwear be delivered to the first applicant as provided for in s 34(3)(b) of the act; (c) an enquiry is directed to be held for the purposes of .....
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