Cap. 446 Art. 6Pre-sentencing reports. Cap. 9. Cap. 9.

(1) A court may commission the Department to prepare a pre-sentencing report before forming an opinion as to the suitability of applying to an offender a sentence of imprisonment, a suspended sentence or any other measure allowed by law on one or more of the following orders:

(a) a probation order; or

(b) a suspended sentence supervision order: Provided that, except in the case of summary proceedings for offences under the jurisdiction of the Court of Magistrates as a court of criminal judicature under article 370(1) of the Criminal

(2) It shall be the duty of a probation officer assigned to prepare the pre-sentencing report to inquire, in accordance with any direction of the court, into the personal and social circumstances of the offender with a view to assisting the court in determining the most suitable method of dealing with the case.

(3) Where a person has been convicted of an offence and the court is of opinion that information ought to be obtained about the circumstances or home surroundings of the accused before the method of dealing with the offender is determined, the court shall, notwithstanding anything contained in the Criminal Code, adjourn the case to enable the compilation of the pre-sentencing report by the Department.

(4) The provisions of the foregoing subarticles shall apply mutatis mutandis, to proceedings before the Criminal Court or the Court of Criminal Appeal.

(5) Where a pre-sentencing report is made to any court, a copy of the report shall be given by the Court to the offender or his advocate or legal procurator and the prosecution: Provided that if the offender is under sixteen years of age and is not represented by an advocate or legal procurator, a copy of the report need not be communicated to him but shall be referred to his parent or guardian.

(6) Except in so far as it is cited in the judgement, a pre-sentencing report shall be considered as a confidential document. No information contained therein may be communicated in any form to third parties without the consent of the accused or the court. The probation officer shall have a right of access at reasonable times to the acts of the criminal proceedings, including documents contained therein.