Section 28: Presumption and determination of age

28. Presumption and determination of age (1) Where a person, whether charged with an offence or not, is brought before any Court, otherwise than for the purpose of giving evidence, and it appears to the Court that he is a juvenile, the Court shall make due inquiry as to his age, and for that purpose shall take such evidence as may be forthcoming at the hearing of the case. (2) An order or judgment of the Court shall not be invalidated by any subsequent proof that the age of that person has not been correctly stated to the Court, and the age presumed or declared by the Court to be the age of the person brought before it shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to be the true age of that person and, where it appears to the Court that the person so brought before it has attained the age of 18, that person shall for the purposes of this Act be deemed not to be a juvenile. [S. 28 amended by Act 15 of 1998.]