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.
SUB-PART B – IMPRISONMENT
Imprisonment not to be less than minimum
1123. — (1) Subject to the provisions of this Code or of any other enactment relating to any offence, the High Court before which any person is convicted of any offence may, in its discretion, sentence the person to any less term of imprisonment than that prescribed by this Code, or such other enactment, for such offence.
(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1) where in this Code or any other enactment relating to any offence, a minimum sentence is prescribed, the High Court before which any person is convicted of any offence shall not sentence the person to any less term of imprisonment than the minimum prescribed by this Code or other enactment, for the offence.
Commencement of imprisonment on conviction before High Court
1124. Subject to section 1104 or any other provision, a sentence of imprisonment upon conviction before the High Court takes effect from the day on which sentence is passed unless the sentence is suspended under the provisions of this Code, or the offender is not in custody or is released on bail, pending the decision of the Court of Appeal on a question reserved, and in such cases the sentence shall take effect from the date on which he or she surrenders or is taken into custody to undergo his or her sentence.
Commencement of imprisonment on summary conviction
1125. A sentence of imprisonment upon a summary conviction takes effect from the date the offender is taken into custody upon his or her conviction.
Computation of imprisonment
1126. When any person is brought by any police officer to a correctional facility to be imprisoned by virtue of a commitment, the police officer shall endorse on the commitment the day on which that person was arrested, and the imprisonment shall be computed as from that day.
Computation of imprisonment in case of escape
1127.— An inmate who escapes from lawful custody while undergoing a sentence of imprisonment is liable upon recapture to undergo the punishment which he or she was undergoing at the time of his or her escape and in addition for a further term equal to the period during which he or she was absent from the correctional facility after the escape and before the expiration of the term of his or her original sentence whether or not at the time of his or her recapture the term of the original sentence, has expired.
Reduction of imprisonment on part payment
1128.— (1) Where a term of imprisonment is imposed in respect of the non-payment of any sum of money adjudged to be paid by virtue of a conviction or an order, the term of imprisonment shall, on payment to a person authorised to receive it, or a part of such sum, be reduced by a number of days bearing as nearly as possible the same proportion to the total number of days of the term of imprisonment as the sum paid bears to the sum adjudged to be paid, subject to the provisions of subsections (2) to (5) of this section.
(2) Fractions of a dollar shall be omitted.
(3) The sum tendered must secure one day’s reduction of the sentence or some multiple thereof, and when a warrant of distress or commitment has been issued no part payment shall be accepted until the fee, if any, payable under such warrant has been discharged.
(4) The first day of a term of imprisonment or detention shall not be counted, as a person is not entitled to be discharged on the first day of his or her imprisonment or detention, except upon payment in full of the sum adjudged to be paid by the person.
(5) Subject to any express provision or direction to the contrary, the proper officer of the Court shall apply any sum paid and received in part payment towards the payment in full or in part, firstly, of any costs adjudged to be paid to the person, secondly, of any damages or compensation adjudged to be paid to any person and thirdly, in the manner in which fines are applied.
Termination of imprisonment on payment or levy
1129. Subject to any other provision, any term of imprisonment imposed in default of payment of a sum adjudged to be paid, shall terminate whenever that sum is paid or levied by process of law.
Commitment implied on pronouncement of sentence
1130. When in any Court, imprisonment including imprisonment for non-payment of money forms part of any sentence, there is implied by such sentence, without more, the power of the Court to issue a warrant for the arrest, detention and commitment of the accused or for the imprisonment of any other person.
Order or extract thereof sufficient warrant
1131. Where imprisonment is authorised, the making of the order as well as an extract of the order shall be a sufficient warrant for the arrest and commitment of the accused, and no such extract shall be void or liable to be set aside on account of any error or defect in form.
Power to issue warrant of commitment on default of payment
1132. Where an order is made against any person for the payment of a sum of money, and the person is liable to be imprisoned, for a specified time, unless such sum is sooner paid, if the person does not pay the sum, together with costs, if awarded, forthwith or at the time specified in such order, the Court may issue a warrant of commitment, under the hand of the Court —
(a) requiring the police officer to whom the warrant is directed to take the person to the correctional facility and deliver him or her to the correctional officer; and
(b) requiring the correctional officer to receive the person into the
correctional facility and there to imprison him or her or to imprison and commit him or her to hard labour, as the case may be, for such time as may be directed and appointed by the warrant of commitment, unless the sum adjudged to be paid, and also all costs and charges, are sooner paid.
Delivery of warrant and person named therein to correctional officer
1133.— (1) The police officer to whom the warrant of commitment is directed shall convey the person named in the warrant to a correctional facility and deliver him or her together with such warrant, to the correctional officer, who shall then give the police officer a receipt in respect of the person, which shall set forth the condition in which the person was when he or she was delivered into the custody of the correctional officer.
(2) It is not necessary to address any warrant of committal under this or any other section of this Code to the correctional officer, but upon delivery of any warrant to the correctional officer by the person charged with the execution thereof, such correctional officer shall receive and detain the person named in the warrant, or detain him or her, if he or she is already in his or her custody, for such period and for such purpose as the warrant directs.
National penalties - national proceedings
EDIT.