256. Determination of appeal

256. Determination of appeal

(1) An appeal under section 254 must be conducted as a rehearing and the appellant is not bound by the plea entered in the Magistrates' Court.

(2) On the hearing of an appeal under section 254, the County Court—

(a) must set aside the sentence of the Magistrates' Court; and

(b) may impose any sentence which the County Court considers appropriate and which the Magistrates' Court imposed or could have imposed; and

(c) may exercise any power which the Magistrates' Court exercised or could have exercised.

(3) On the hearing of an appeal under section 254, the County Court must warn the appellant, as early as possible during the hearing, that the appellant faces the possibility that a more severe sentence may be imposed than that imposed by the Magistrates' Court.

(4) The County Court may backdate a sentence imposed under subsection (2) to a date not earlier than the date of the sentence of the Magistrates' Court that was set aside on the appeal.

(5) A sentence imposed under subsection (2) is for all purposes to be regarded as a sentence of the County Court.

Note

See the definition of sentence in section 3. This includes the recording of a conviction.

While not bound by the plea, the entry of a plea of guilty in the Magistrates' Court will be admissible as an admission (unless excluded in the exercise of judicial discretion).