Pleading Guilty, Mitigation Plea & Sentencing FAQs

When the Prosecution has made its final decision on the type of prosecutorial action taken against you, you must tell the Court whether you eventually want to plead guilty or claim trial to the charge.

If you plead guilty to a Charge, you must acknowledge and accept that you committed the offence and be prepared to accept the punishment and sentence imposed (e.g. to pay a fine or serve a period of imprisonment).

When you plead guilty to the Charge, the Court will confirm that you understand the nature and consequences of pleading guilty before accepting your plea of guilt and convicting you of the Charge.

The session will take place in a separate open-courtroom hearing (sometimes called a Mention) administered by a Judge and attended by your Criminal lawyer (if you’re legally represented) and a Prosecuting Officer (e.g. Deputy Public Prosecutor).

After you plead guilty by admitting to the Charge and Statement of Facts (SOF), you’ll have an opportunity to tell the Judge of the mitigating factors justifying a lower sentence and to persuade the Judge to impose lighter punishment against you (e.g. to pay a lower fine or serve a shorter period of imprisonment).

Yes. When you plead guilty to a charge, the Charge and Statement of Facts (SOF) will be read to you in the language which you understand and by an interpreter if you need.

After the Charge is read to you, the Court will ask you to confirm that you want to plead guilty to the Charge and that you understand the nature and consequences of pleading guilty.

The Charge will contain the key details of the offence (e.g. date, time, location, offending criminal act or conduct in question, the value of the property involved and identity of the victim) and also the prescribed minimum and maximum punishment.

The SOF contains the key and material facts describing how the offence took place and the nature and degree of your involvement in committing the offence.

After the SOF is read to you, the Court will ask you to confirm if you admit to all the facts contained in it without any qualification:

• You must tell the Court if you deny or disagree with the facts contained in the SOF.
• If you disagree with parts of the SOF that are key and reduce your acknowledgement and acceptance of committing the offence, then the Court will not accept your plea of guilt.
• If the Court rejects your plea of guilt, you’ll need to carefully decide if you still want to continue to challenge the facts.
• If you still wish to continue to challenge the facts contained in the SOF, you will need to claim trial to the charge.
• If you don’t wish to continue to challenge the facts contained in the SOF, you must be prepared to concede and accept the facts as contained in the SOF.

If you completely agree and accept the facts contained in the SOF without any reservations, then the Court will register and accept your plea of guilt and convict you on the charge.

If you’ve pleaded guilty to the Charge by completely agreeing to and accepting the facts contained in the Statement of Facts (SOF) without any reservations, the Court will register your plea of guilt and convict you on the Charge.

After this, the Prosecuting Officer will inform the Court if there are any similar previous convictions which you have:

• You must carefully check before you confirm that the list of previous convictions mentioned is accurate.
• These previous convictions can be taken into account by the Court in deciding the sentence to impose against you.

Yes. After you plead guilty to the Charge and admit to the Statement of Facts (SOF) and your previous convictions, you’ll have the opportunity to tell the Court of the mitigating factors in your case for its consideration before it decides the sentence to impose against you.

Mitigating factors are the facts, circumstances, and reasons which justify a more lenient or lighter sentence being imposed against you (i.e. information and facts regarding your own personal circumstances and those regarding the circumstances surrounding how the offence had been carried out).

Mitigating factors can be presented orally (spoken) or in a written document.

The mitigation plea (or plea in mitigation) is the written or oral presentation of your mitigation factors to the Court.

After the Judge makes a decision on the conviction and sentence against you, either you or the Prosecution can make an appeal to a higher Court (e.g. the High Court) in these situations:

• If you’ve pleaded guilty and are not satisfied with the Judge’s decision on the sentence, you can make an appeal against the sentence imposed
  • You can make an appeal against a sentence on the basis that it was manifestly excessive or not supported by the facts or the law.
  • The Prosecution can make an appeal against the sentence on the basis that it was manifestly inadequate or not supported by the facts or the law.
• If you’re convicted after a trial and are not satisfied with the Judge’s decisions on conviction and sentence, you can make an appeal to the High Court against the conviction and sentence.
• If you’re acquitted after having claimed trial, the Prosecution appeal to the High Court against the acquittal.
• You must submit the application for the appeal within 14 days from the date of the conviction or sentence.
• After an appeal is submitted, the Court will schedule a separate hearing where the reasons in support of the appeal will be assessed – the appeal will be granted if the reasons have merit and justify the appeal being granted.