CRIMINAL PROCEDURE AND EVIDENCE ACT
Provided that the police officer shall first audibly demand admission to the premises and notify the purpose for which he seeks to enter the premises.
(2) The proviso to subsection (1) shall not apply where the police officer concerned is on
reasonable grounds of the opinion that any article which is the subject of the search may be
destroyed or disposed of if the provisions of that proviso are first complied with.
56 Award of damages for false information on oath
Where any person falsely gives information on oath for the purposes of subsection (1) of
section fifty and a warrant is issued and executed on such information, and such person is in
consequence of such false information convicted of perjury or any statutory offence involving
the making of a false statement on oath, the court convicting such person may, upon the application of any person who has suffered any damage in consequence of the unlawful entry, search
or seizure, as the case may be, or upon the application of the prosecutor acting on the instructions of that person, award compensation in respect of such damage and the provisions of
section three hundred and sixty-two shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to the award.
57 Search to be conducted in decent and orderly manner
A search of any person or premises in terms of this Part shall be conducted with strict regard
to decency and order, and section 41B(3) shall apply to the search of any person.
[Section amended by s. 49 of Act No. 2 of 2016]
58 Custody and disposal of seized articles
(1) Subject to subsection (1), a police officer who seizes any article referred to in section 49
or to whom any such article is delivered in terms of this Part or to whom an article seized in
terms of any other enactment is delivered to be dealt with in terms of this Part, shall—
(a) take it or cause it to be taken forthwith and delivered to a place of security under the
control of a police officer; and
(b) have all relevant particulars in relation to it and its seizure entered in an inventory
(which may be an electronic inventory, provided that a manual or material back-up of
the inventory is maintained simultaneously) kept at the place of custody, namely a sufficient description of the article, details of the date and particulars of the full receipt (if
any) issued in relation thereto, and the identification number and mark assigned to it;
and
(c) endeavour to ensure that the article, if vulnerable to damage or contamination from
moisture or dust, is kept free from contamination by moisture and dust, and that the
place of security where it is lodged is protected from access by unauthorised persons;
and
(d) be held, subject to section 59, until the criminal proceedings which are instituted in
relation to that article—
(i) have been abandoned or discontinued or are concluded otherwise than with the
conviction of the accused, in which event the custodian police officer shall forthwith restore any such article [to] the accused or the owner thereof, as may be appropriate, unless the article is one whose possession is intrinsically unlawful; or
(ii) have resulted in the conviction of the accused, in which event the convicting court
shall—
A. order any such thing to be restored to the accused or the owner thereof, as
may be appropriate; or
B. order any such article to be forfeited to the State or destroyed.
(2) A police officer may, if the article is stolen property or property suspected to be stolen,
with the consent of the person from whom it was seized, deliver the article to the person from
whom, in the opinion of such police officer, such article was stolen, and shall warn such person
to hold such article available for production at any resultant criminal proceedings, if required to
do so.
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