Imprisonment by JPs, magistrate to review
38 Imprisonment by JPs, magistrate to review
If a justice or justices in the Magistrates Court —
sentence an offender to suspended imprisonment or CSI; or
[(b) deleted]
sentence an offender to a term of imprisonment,
a magistrate must review the sentence within 2 working days after it is imposed.
The review is to be based on an examination of the court papers relevant to the offence (or copies or faxes of them) in the absence of the parties and is not to involve a hearing.
Having reviewed the original sentence, the magistrate may —
confirm the original sentence; or
cancel the original sentence and order the offender to appear before a magistrate to be sentenced again.
If the original sentence is cancelled the offender must be bailed or remanded in custody to appear to be sentenced again.
A magistrate sentencing an offender again may sentence the offender in any manner the magistrate could if he or she had just convicted the offender of the offence for which the original sentence was imposed.
In deciding how to deal with an offender when sentencing the offender again, the magistrate must take into account any time spent in custody by the offender under the original sentence.
A failure to review the original sentence under this section does not affect its validity.
The original sentence, if cancelled, may not be appealed against.
This section does not affect any right of appeal against an original sentence that is confirmed on review or that is not reviewed under this section.
This section does not affect any right of appeal against a sentence imposed under this section by a magistrate.
[Section 38 amended: No. 29 of 1998 s. 18; No. 59 of 2004 s. 141; No. 27 of 2004 s. 6(4).]
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