Question

Mary is arrested for suspected driving under the influence. She receives a summons to appear in court when she is pulled over. The summons endorses that she may admit her guilt regarding the offence and pay the fine stipulated without appearing in court. She fears that her employer will be angry and possibly react to her detriment at work if she had to appear in court. Based on the latter, Mary decides to pay the admission of guilt fine. A month after the incident, Mary applied for a new position at work for which she needed to furnish a clean criminal record. Much to her surprise, upon application at the SAPS, she is informed that the admission of guilt fine that she paid automatically implies that she will have a criminal record. She is distraught to hear this and decides to "take the matter further". Advise Mary on the success or otherwise, to have the conviction overturned because Mary did not know, and neither did the arresting officer explain to her, that she could receive a criminal record. In south africa, case laws, legislation