Rex v Becker

JurisdictionSouth Africa
JudgeDe Villiers ACJ, Curlewis JA and Stratford JA
Judgment Date27 November 1928
Citation1929 AD 167
Hearing Date08 November 1928
CourtAppellate Division

De Villiers, A.C.J.:

Appellant was charged at the Aliwal North Circuit Local Division before PITTMAN, J., with the crime of the theft of money amounting to £362, reduced by counsel for the Crown to the sum of £276, the property of one Scholl, He was found guilty of the theft of £167 15s. and sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment with hard labour. At the request of counsel for the appellant the Court, under sec. 370 of Act 31 of 1917, made a special entry on the record showing that Sergeant van Blerck, who gave evidence at the trial on behalf of the Crown, had conducted the prosecution at the preparatory examination, a fact which was admitted by counsel for the Crown, it being contended that this witness was not a competent witness against the accused, and that his being allowed to give evidence constituted an irregularity or illegality within the meaning of the section.

Thereafter at the request of counsel for the appellant the following question of law under sec. 372 of the above Act was reserved by the Court, viz., whether those portions of the evidence of Sergeant van Blerck and Detective Mundell, where they testified that the accused made certain statements to them, were rightly admitted, it being contended that evidence of such statements was inadmissible by reason of the provisions of sec. 273 of the above Act. According to the summing up of the learned Judge, complainant Scholl carried on a business at Mooiplaats in the Free State from July, 1925, till June of last year, and at Koedekraal from September, 1926, to February of last year. Both these places are in the neighbourhood of Aliwal, and Scholl seems

De Villiers, A.C.J.

frequently to have had occasion to come to this town. In July, 1925, he entered into a definite contract with the accused, in terms of which the accused was to write up his books at a yearly remuneration of some £42 10s. Scholl and the accused say that there was a complete set of books provided; but there have been three only produced at this trial, two rough cash books recording transactions of the two businesses, and the bank pass book. The rough cash books were generally in the possession of the complainant, but were sent in by him periodically to the accused for the transactions recorded to be entered into the other books, which were in the possession of the accused. The pass book was regularly in the possession of the accused.

On the special entry accused relies upon Best on Evidence (10th...

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118 practice notes
  • Magmoed v Janse van Rensburg and Others
    • South Africa
    • Invalid date
    ...may, on the other hand, turn purely on a question of law, for example whether a certain statement constitutes a confession (see R v Becker 1929 AD 167 at 170; R v Viljoen 1941 AD 366 at 367). Furthermore, in a particular case admissibility may depend upon both law and It seems to me that th......
  • S v Mabaso and Another
    • South Africa
    • Invalid date
    ...meant by a confession is an unequivocal acknowledgement of guilt, 'the equivalent of a plea of guilty before a court of law'. R v Becker 1929 AD 167 at 171. Highly trained lawyers and Judges not infrequently differ as to whether what G was said amounts to a plea of guilty. When he pleads, a......
  • Magmoed v Janse van Rensburg and Others
    • South Africa
    • Invalid date
    ...on the other hand, turn purely D on a question of law, for example whether a certain statement constitutes a confession (see R v Becker 1929 AD 167 at 170; R v Viljoen 1941 AD 366 at 367). Furthermore, in a particular case admissibility may depend upon both law and It seems to me that the d......
  • S v Mbatha en Andere
    • South Africa
    • Invalid date
    ...R v Garnsworthy and Others 1923 WLD 17 at 19; R v Barlin 1926 AD 459 at 465 - 6; R v Jonas and Others 1928 CPD 520 at 526; R v Becker 1929 AD 167 C at 171; R v Gumede and Another 1942 AD 398 at 433; R v Nthlangisa and Another 1946 AD 1101 at 1105 - 6; R v Kuzwayo 1949 (3) SA 761 (A) at 768;......
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111 cases
  • Magmoed v Janse van Rensburg and Others
    • South Africa
    • Invalid date
    ...may, on the other hand, turn purely on a question of law, for example whether a certain statement constitutes a confession (see R v Becker 1929 AD 167 at 170; R v Viljoen 1941 AD 366 at 367). Furthermore, in a particular case admissibility may depend upon both law and It seems to me that th......
  • S v Mabaso and Another
    • South Africa
    • Invalid date
    ...meant by a confession is an unequivocal acknowledgement of guilt, 'the equivalent of a plea of guilty before a court of law'. R v Becker 1929 AD 167 at 171. Highly trained lawyers and Judges not infrequently differ as to whether what G was said amounts to a plea of guilty. When he pleads, a......
  • Magmoed v Janse van Rensburg and Others
    • South Africa
    • Invalid date
    ...on the other hand, turn purely D on a question of law, for example whether a certain statement constitutes a confession (see R v Becker 1929 AD 167 at 170; R v Viljoen 1941 AD 366 at 367). Furthermore, in a particular case admissibility may depend upon both law and It seems to me that the d......
  • S v Mbatha en Andere
    • South Africa
    • Invalid date
    ...R v Garnsworthy and Others 1923 WLD 17 at 19; R v Barlin 1926 AD 459 at 465 - 6; R v Jonas and Others 1928 CPD 520 at 526; R v Becker 1929 AD 167 C at 171; R v Gumede and Another 1942 AD 398 at 433; R v Nthlangisa and Another 1946 AD 1101 at 1105 - 6; R v Kuzwayo 1949 (3) SA 761 (A) at 768;......
  • Request a trial to view additional results
7 books & journal articles
  • 2018 index
    • South Africa
    • Juta South African Criminal Law Journal No. , August 2019
    • August 16, 2019
    ...v South African Rugby and Football Union (SARFU) 1999 (4) SA 147 (CC) ..................................................... 256RR v Becker 1929 AD 167...................................................................... 261R v Blom 1939 AD 188 ....................................................
  • 2017 index
    • South Africa
    • Juta South African Criminal Law Journal No. , August 2019
    • August 16, 2019
    ...v South African Rugby and Football Union (SARFU) 1999 (4) SA 147 (CC) ..................................................... 256RR v Becker 1929 AD 167...................................................................... 261R v Blom 1939 AD 188 ....................................................
  • The law of evidence: Seven wishes for the next twenty years
    • South Africa
    • Juta South African Criminal Law Journal No. , August 2019
    • August 16, 2019
    ...the reception of admissions in s 219A of the Act) is undesirable and misleading: a statement is voluntarily made i f it ‘has 16 R v Becker 1929 AD 167 at 171. See, generally, DT Zeffertt & A P Paizes The S outh African Law of Evi dence 2ed (2009) 523.278 SACJ . (2014) 3 © Juta and Company (......
  • Recent Case: Criminal Procedure
    • South Africa
    • Juta South African Criminal Law Journal No. , May 2019
    • May 24, 2019
    ...de nition of a confession, the long established and indisputable authority of the denition proposed by De Villiers ACJ in R v Beck er 1929 AD 167 is instructive. According to the learned C hief Justice, a confession had only one meaning – ‘an unequivocal acknowledgment of guilt, t he equi......
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