CHAPTER FOUR
Punishment, Pardon, Remission, Rewards and Miscellaneous Matters
PART II
Types of Punishments
SUB-PART A - CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
Conviction on verdict, confession or plea
1110. Any person who is indicted for any capital offence under any enactment, shall be liable to the same punishment, whether or not that person is convicted by verdict, or on confession, or plea.
Terms of death sentence
1111. The sentence, to be pronounced upon a person who is convicted of an offence punishable with death, is that he or she be hanged by the neck until he or she is dead.
Statement of time or place of execution in sentence immaterial
1112. Nothing in any law or usage in this State with respect either the time or the place of execution shall constitute an essential part of any sentence of death pronounced by the Court on the person, so as to render the sentence void by reason that the person was not executed at the time or place stated by the Court.
Court not to fix date for execution Judge’s report to Governor General
1113. The Court shall not fix the date for the execution of any sentence of death, but as soon as conveniently possible after the sentence has been pronounced, the presiding Judge shall forward to the Governor-General his or her notes of the evidence taken at the trial, with a report in writing containing any recommendations or observations on the case which he or she may think fit to make.
Place and time of execution
1114.— (1) The execution of a sentence of death passed on any person by the Court shall be carried out within the walls of the correctional facility in which the person is confined at the time of execution on such date as the Governor-General may by a warrant signed by him or her fix.
(2) Cabinet may make Rules to guard against any abuse in the execution of any sentence of death so as to give greater solemnity to the execution.
The Minister to appoint burial place
1115. (1) The Minister responsible for Correctional Services shall, by writing under his or her hand, appoint a fit place for the burial of offenders who are executed, and the body of every offender executed shall be buried in that place.
(2) For purposes of this section and sections 1116, 1117 and 1129 “Minister” means the Minister responsible for Correctional Services.
Officers to direct and be present at execution
1116.— (1) A sentence of death shall be executed under the direction of the Commissioner of Police or such other officer as the Commissioner may authorise.
(2) A correctional officer, medical officer and such other officers of the correctional facility, as well as a minister of religion approved by the Minister responsible for Correctional Services, shall be present at the execution.
Presence of justice and relatives of inmate
1117. Any justice of the peace, and such relatives of the inmate or other persons as the Minister may deem proper to admit within the correctional facility for the purpose, may also be present at the execution.
Proceedings after execution of death sentence
1118.— (1) As soon as may be after sentence of death has been executed on the offender, the medical officer of the correctional facility shall examine the body of the offender to ascertain the fact of death and shall sign a certificate of death which he or she shall deliver to the Commissioner of Police.
(2) The Commissioner of Police, the correctional officer, and such other persons present, if any, as the Commissioner of Police may require or allow, shall also sign a declaration to the effect that the sentence of death has been executed on the offender.
Inquest and duties of the coroner
1119.— (1) Without prejudice to the provisions of the Coroner’s Act No. 19 of 2002 or any enactment replacing it, the coroner in charge of the district in which the correctional facility is situated wherein the sentence of death was executed shall, within forty-eight hours after the execution, hold an inquest on the body of the offender, to inquire into and ascertain the identity of the body, and whether the sentence of death was duly executed on the offender.
(2) The inquisition shall be recorded in duplicate and the coroner shall deliver one of the originals to the Commissioner of Police.
Documents to be forwarded to Minister
1120. Every certificate and declaration as well as the duplicate of the inquisition required to be made under sections 1118 and 1119 shall in each case be sent with all convenient speed by the Commissioner of Police to the Minister responsible for Correctional Services, and printed copies of these documents shall as soon as possible be exhibited, at least for twenty-four hours, on or near the main entrance of the correctional facility within which the sentence of death was executed.
False certificate or declaration
1121. Any person who signs a certificate or declaration required under this Sub-Part which he or she knows is false is liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for two years.
Omissions not to invalidate execution
1122. An omission on the part of any person to comply with any provision of this Sub-Part shall not render the execution of a sentence of death illegal in any case where it would otherwise have been legal.
National penalties - death sentence
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