(1) Notwithstanding section 10, where agricultural produce is seized, the police officer making the arrest shall deliver the agricultural produce to the Director of Agricultural Services who shall, subject to subsection (2), preserve the agricultural produce for the purposes of the trial of the offence and where the agricultural produce is likely to perish before the trial of the offence, the Director of Agricultural Services shall sell it or if a sale cannot be conducted shall dispose of it in any other manner as he or she sees fit.
(2) Where the offence referred to in subsection (1) is to be tried, the Director of Agricultural Services shall deliver to the Clerk of Court a certificate containing the following information—
(a) the quantity of agricultural produce received by him or her;
(b) the quantity of agricultural produce sold;
(c) the amount realised by the sale;
(d) where the agricultural produce is disposed of otherwise than by sale, the method and date of disposal,
the value of the proceeds of sale less any amount that is applied to satisfy the conduct of the sale.
(3) A certificate referred to in subsection (2) shall be admissible in evidence as proof of the matters stated in it without proof of the signature of the Director of Agricultural Services.
(4) Where the person charged with an offence pursuant to this Act is convicted of an offence pursuant to this Act in relation to which agricultural produce was seized and sold or otherwise disposed pursuant to this section, the court may—
(a) in the case of sale, order that compensation be paid out of and not exceeding the net realized by the sale to the person who makes a claim and who appears to the court to be the owner of the agricultural produce;
(b) subject to subsection (5), in the case where the agricultural produce was disposed of, order the accused to pay the person who makes a claim and who appears to the court to be the owner of the agricultural produce such compensation not exceeding the net market value of the agricultural produce.
(5) An order for the payment of compensation made pursuant to subsection (4)(b) shall not be for an amount in excess of $5000.
(6) An award of compensation referred to in subsection (4) shall not be a bar to any civil proceedings for damages where the net market value of the agricultural produce exceeds $5000, but any compensation awarded shall be taken into account for the purposes of awarding damages.
(7) Where agricultural produce is sold in accordance with subsection (1) and the owner cannot be ascertained, the proceeds of the sale shall be paid into the Consolidated Fund.