(1) A person who has been released on bail commits an offence—
(a) if he or she fails without reasonable cause to surrender to custody; or
(b) if he or she, having reasonable cause for not surrendering to custody, fails to surrender to custody at the appointed time as is reasonably practicable.
(2) It shall be for the accused to prove that he or she had reasonable cause for his or her failure to surrender to custody.
(3) A failure to give to a person granted bail a copy of the decision shall not constitute a reasonable cause for his or her failure to surrender to custody.
(4) An offence under subsection (1) is punishable either on summary conviction or as if it were a criminal contempt of Court.
(5) Where a magistrate convicts a person of an offence under subsection (1), the magistrate may, if he or she thinks—
(a) that the circumstances of the offence are such that greater punishment should be inflicted for that offence than he or she has power to inflict; or
(b) in a case where the Court commits that person to the High Court for trial for another offence, that it would be appropriate for him or her to be dealt with for the offence under subsection (1) by the Court before which he or she is tried for the offence, commit him or her in custody or on bail to the High Court for sentence.
(6) A person who is convicted summarily of an offence under subsection (1) and—
(a) is not committed to the High Court for sentence is liable to imprisonment for one year or to a fine of $1,000;
(b) is committed to the High Court for sentence or is dealt with for contempt is liable to imprisonment for a term of 2 years or to a fine of $5,000 or to both.
(7) In any proceedings for an offence under subsection (1), a document purporting to be a copy of the part of the prescribed record that relates to the time and place appointed for the person specified in the record to surrender to custody and duly certified to be a true copy of that part of the record shall be evidence of the time and place appointed for that person to surrender to custody.
(8) For the purposes of subsection (7)—
(a) the “prescribed record” means the record of the decision of the Court, proper officer of the Court or police officer made pursuant to section 596;
(b) the copy of the prescribed record is “duly certified” once it is so certified by the proper officer of the Court or as the case may be, by the police officer who took the decision or a police officer designated for the purpose by the officer in charge of the police station from which the person to whom the record relates was released.