(1)The court before which a person is convicted of an offence may, in its discretion and if satisfied that the defence of the person was conducted in an extravagant and unnecessary manner, order that person to pay a sum to be fixed by the court by way of costs of his prosecution²⁰¹⁸make an order for costs, of an amount fixed by the court, to be paid by the person to any other party to the proceedings in which the person is convicted of the offence²⁰¹⁸.

(2)If an accused is acquitted of any charge for any offence, and if it is proved to the satisfaction of the court that the prosecution was frivolous or vexatious, the court may order the prosecution or the complainant or the person on whose information the prosecution was instituted to pay full costs, charges and expenses incurred by the accused in and for his²⁰²¹the accused’s²⁰²¹ defence, to be taxed by the Registrar of the Supreme Court or the Registrar of the Subordinate²⁰¹⁴State²⁰¹⁴ Courts, as the case may be.

(3)The court may direct that either an order for payment of costs under subsection (1) or an order for payment of compensation under section 359(1) be paid in priority to the other, and if no direction is given, the order for payment of costs takes priority over the order for payment of compensation.