ABSTRACT

A defendant who is on trial at the magistrates’ court or the High Court is required to enter a plea to the charge before the trial can legitimately begin. This chapter focuses on the different types of pleas that are possible and the various issues, many of them problematic, which may arise in respect of each. The accused person is usually present when a plea is taken since he is expected to make the plea personally. The process for entering a plea in the High Court is called the arraignment and is more formal. For a defendant who is fit to plead there are three available options: guilty; not guilty; and plea(s) in bar. By such a plea the defendant allows the prosecution to dispense with the requirement to prove the offence. A defendant may by statute or common law plead guilty to a lesser alternative offence if the prosecution consents and the judge permits it.