Examination of a witness on commission

Section 82 of the Coast Guard Act, 1978 deals with examination of a witness on commission. The prosecutor and the accused person in any case in which a commission is issued under section 81 may respectively forward any interrogatories in writing which the court may think relevant to the issue, and the Magistrate executing the commission shall examine the witness upon such interrogatories. The Act came into force on 19 Aug 1978.

(1) The prosecutor and the accused person in any case in which a commission is issued under section 81 may respectively forward any interrogatories in writing which the court may think relevant to the issue, and the Magistrate executing the commission shall examine the witness upon such interrogatories.

(2) The prosecutor and the accused person may appear before such Magistrate by counsel, or except in the case of an accused person in custody, in person, and may examine, cross-examine and re-examine, as the case may be, the said witness.

(3) After a commission issued under section 81 has been duly executed, it shall be returned together with the deposition of the witness examined thereunder to the Chief Law Officer.

(4) On receipt of a commission, and deposition returned under sub-section (3), the Chief Law Officer shall forward the same to the Coast Guard Court at whose instance the commission was issued or, if such court has been dissolved, to any other court convened for the trial of the accused person; and the commission, the return thereto and the deposition shall be open to inspection by the prosecutor and the accused person, and may, subject to all just exceptions, be read in evidence in the case by either the prosecutor or the accused, and shall form part of the proceedings of the court.

(5) In every case in which a commission is issued under section 81, the trial may be adjourned for a specified time reasonably sufficient for the execution and return of the commission.

Section 82, The Coast Guard Act, 1978 (Act 30 of 1978).