WHEN CAN A CRIMINAL CHARGE BE FINALISED WITHOUT A CONVICTION?
Two recent decisions handed down by the Supreme Court have considered the circumstances under which a criminal conviction should not be recorded against a person found guilty of an offence. In one case, this was despite the fact that the accused person was found guilty of the charge of assault after a six-day trial. Under the Criminal Law (Sentencing) Act when a Court finds a person guilty of an offence for which it proposes to impose a fine, community service or both, then the Court may do so without recording a conviction if it is of the...
read moreIMPRISONED FOR ACCEPTING A GIFT
A man was imprisoned for fourteen days for two charges that included accepting as a gift from a friend a single round of ammunition that he intended to make into a necklace. The man was charged with a number of offences including possession of a slingshot and accepting the ammunition when he did not hold a firearms licence that authorised him to possess a gun designed to fire that type of ammunition. The Court accepted that he did not appreciate it was unlawful to be in possession of a single round and also that he did not believe that the...
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