4
[13] At the postponement on 16 July 2018, the ‘charge sheet’ was handed to the
defence and the prosecutor stated that the State would proceed on ‘all charge’.
[14] Whilst it is not clear from the record if this was a reference to the possession of
4489 contents of child pornography or a reference to charges of both possession and
distribution, counsel for the State at the hearing before us informed the Court that the
State never intended to prefer a charge of distribution against the appellant as the State
could not prove it; furthermore, that it would have been unethical for the State to charge
the appellant with distribution based on the appellant’s guilty plea.
[15] The full charge sheet with all the appearances appears in the record but it does
not contain any charge of distribution or any reference to distribution of child
pornography, other than that stated by the prosecutor in court at the first appearance on
25 August 2017.
[16] In his judgement on conviction, the Magistrate stated that the appellant was
charged with a contravention of section 24B(1) of the Act, in that on 24 August 2017
and at Elandspark the appellant possessed child pornography. He further stated that
this charge was put to the appellant and he pleaded guilty to ‘count 1 to 4489’. The
Magistrate was satisfied on the plea statement that the appellant admitted all the
allegations in the ‘charge sheet’ and he convicted the appellant of contravening section
24B(1)(a) and (d) of the Act, to wit, possession of 4489 contents of child pornography in
terms of section 24B(1)(a), and distribution of four (4) images in terms of section 24B(1)
(d) of the Act as reflected in counts 2222, 2247, 2270 and 2302.
[17] It was incumbent on the Magistrate to ensure that the admissions in the plea
statement corresponded with the allegations in the charge. The Magistrate might put
questions to the accused to resolve discrepancies between the two documents. In this
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