General provisions as to dealing summarily with crimes

(1) Where a crime is, in the circumstances mentioned in section 50 of the Summary Jurisdiction (Offences) Act, Cap. 98, authorised to be dealt with summarily, (a) the procedure shall, until the court assumes the power to deal with the crime summarily, be the same in all respects as if the crime were to be dealt with throughout under the 49 Indictable Procedure Act, Cap. 96, but when and so soon as the court assumes the power to deal with the crime summarily, the procedure shall be the same, from and after that period, as if the crime were a summary conviction offence, and the provisions of this Act shall apply accordingly, but nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent the court from dealing thereafter with the crime under the provisions of the Indictable Procedure Act, Cap. 96, if it thinks fit to do so; (b) the evidence of any witness taken before the magistrate who has assumed the power to deal with the offence summarily need not be taken again, but the witness shall, if the defendant or the prosecutor so requires, be recalled for the purpose of cross- examination; (c) the conviction for the crime shall have the same effect as a conviction on a trial on indictment therefore would have; (d) where the court has assumed the power to deal with the crime summarily, and dismisses the complaint on the merits, it shall, if required, deliver to the person charged a copy, certified under the hand of the magistrate, of the order of dismissal, and the dismissal shall have the same effect as an acquittal on a trial on indictment for the crime would have; and (e) the conviction shall contain a statement either as to the plea of guilty of the person charged or his consent to the crime being dealt with summarily by the court. 50 (2) Where under the provisions of section 49 or 50 of the Summary Jurisdiction (Offences) Act, Cap. 98, any person is tried summarily by a court of summary jurisdiction for a crime and is convicted by that court of that crime, then if in all the circumstances of the case, including the prevalence of the crime for which the accused has been convicted and the character and antecedents of the accused, the court is of opinion that greater punishment should be inflicted in respect of the crime than that court has power to inflict, the court may, in lieu of dealing with him, commit him in custody to the Supreme Court for sentence. (3) Where any person has been committed for sentence under the powers conferred by this section, the magistrate shall within fourteen days or as soon as is practicable thereafter, transmit the record of the case to the Registrar, together with a copy thereof for the Director of Public Prosecutions, and the Registrar shall as soon as practicable after receiving the same deliver them to the Chief Justice and the Director of Public Prosecutions. (4) The Chief Justice shall, as soon as conveniently may be after receiving such record, issue an order to the keeper of the prison wherein the prisoner is confined to bring the prisoner before the court at the time and place fixed therein and the Registrar shall notify the Director of Public Prosecutions and the prisoner accordingly. (5) A person so committed shall be liable to be dealt with and punished in the same manner as if he were convicted in the Supreme Court for that crime by the verdict of a jury.