A judgment this week in the Gauteng High Court identifies the danger of paying an admission of guilt fine for minor contravention of the COVID-19 lockdown regulations and inadvertently being saddled for life with a criminal record, writes MedicalBrief.
Cape Times reports that Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) Acting Judge Khwinana overturned the conviction of Knowledge Makhuvha on a charge of contravening the national lockdown regulations. The court also ordered the NPA and the police to pay back the R1,000 admission of guilt fine he had paid, and immediately remove his name from the criminal register.
Makhuvha approached the court after he realised he now had a criminal record for something that he said was not his fault. He was arrested in April 2020, a few days after the government proclaimed the hard level five lockdown.
He said his employer at the building supply firm where he worked issued him with a letter stating he was an essential worker. However, the letter was never signed. Khwinana said that the purpose of allowing the payment of an admission of guilt fine was to enable a person to admit guilt in advance and thereby avoid having to appear in court on a “minor’” criminal charge.
“Although the payment of a fine may seem innocuous, there could be serious consequences which may not be realised by the person who pays the admission of guilt fine,” he said. These included that the person waived a number of rights, such as the right to defend a case and to be convicted beyond reasonable doubt.
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