388AAbatement or removal of nuisance

388A Abatement or removal of nuisance

[Section 388A Inserted by No. 35 of 1973, s. 5 ]

(1)  Upon a conviction of creating and continuing a nuisance or of continuing a nuisance the court may –

(a) adjourn the cause for a specified period to give the person convicted an opportunity to abate or remove the nuisance; or

(b) [Section 388A Amended by No. 55 of 2007, Sched. 1, Applied:01 Mar 2008] refer to the Associate Judge the questions of how and at what cost the nuisance may best be abated or removed, and otherwise adjourn the cause until the Associate Judge's report is available.

(2)  [Section 388A Amended by No. 55 of 2007, Sched. 1, Applied:01 Mar 2008] On a reference under this section, the Associate Judge –

(a) shall make such an inquiry as he thinks proper;

(b) may obtain the opinion of engineers and other persons with scientific or technical knowledge; and

(c) shall hear, if they so desire, the prosecutor and the defendant –

and report in writing to the court accordingly.

(3)  [Section 388A Amended by No. 55 of 2007, Sched. 1, Applied:01 Mar 2008] On receiving the Associate Judge's report the court shall cause the parties to be given copies of the report and to be summoned to appear before it.

(4)  The cause being again before the court, either party may move that the report be rejected and a further and better report ordered, which the court may do with all necessary consequences.

(5)  If after an adjournment under paragraph (a) of subsection (1) it appears to the court that the nuisance has not been abated or removed, the court may proceed under paragraph (b) of that subsection.

(6)  [Section 388A Amended by No. 55 of 2007, Sched. 1, Applied:01 Mar 2008] On accepting a report of the Associate Judge, the court may sentence the defendant to pay a fine equal to the amount that he has reported that the abatement or removal of the nuisance will cost, and order that the fine be paid over to the Treasurer of the State, the treasurer of a municipality, or to some other authority as payment for abating or removing the nuisance according to such arrangement or contract therefor as the court approves.