Criminal Law

South African criminal law is the body of national law relating to crime in South Africa.

Crime is defined as conduct which common or statute law prohibits and expressly or impliedly subjects to punishment remissible by the state alone and which the offender cannot avoid by his own act once he has been convicted.

Crime involves the infliction of harm against society. The function or object of criminal law is to provide a social mechanism with which to coerce members of society to abstain from conduct that is harmful to the interests of society.

Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It prescribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and moral welfare of people inclusive of one’s self.

• All Court Attendances during investigations process
• Attending to police interrogations
• Attending to ID parades
• Attending to any form of evidence gathering in protecting the clients rights

• Attending to all investigations required in the pursuit of a successful defense, which includes but is not limited to the photographing of crime scenes, interviewing defense witnesses and more.
• Re-evaluation of DNA evidence for accuracy and possible contamination.
• Re-examination of any chemical testing, be that blood alcohol tests or otherwise in pursuit of a successful defense.

• Trials – Conducting all aspects of criminal trial on behalf of the client.
• Appeals – Conducting all aspects of the criminal appeal process on behalf of the client, be that applying for leave to appeal or prosecuting the appeal in the High Court against an unwanted conviction or sentence.

• For an accused person, a bail application must be dealt with by the law and as speedily as possible.
• An opposition to bail by the State and/or a refusal of bail by the court should not be the result of a court or a prosecutor having an overriding thought that such refusal or opposition is a form of punishment for the accused person notwithstanding the gravity or seriousness of the offence.
• There is an automatic presumption of innocence for every accused person at bail proceedings.
• It automatically follows that every accused person has the right to apply for bail.
• The rights and duties of a bail applicant are voluminous, all of which cannot be enumerated here.
• Further, the circumstances of every bail application and bail applicant are different. It is therefore imperative that the proper expert advice is received for a bail application so that an applicant’s rights are protected and any unnecessarily prolonged detention is avoided.