Defence Act, 1954

Quashing of finding of court-martial.

224.—(1) Where the finding and sentence of a court-martial in respect of an accused person have been confirmed and it appears to the Minister that the proceedings of the court-martial were illegal, the Minister shall quash the finding, and thereupon the following provisions shall have effect:—

(a) the whole of the sentence passed by the court-martial shall cease to have effect;

(b) the Minister may at the same time direct that the accused be tried again for the offence which was the subject of the finding, and in such case the accused may, notwithstanding anything in this Act or any rule of law, be tried by court-martial for such offence and if found guilty punished therefor.

(2) Where the finding and sentence of a court-martial in respect of an accused person have been confirmed and it appears to the Minister that the accused was wrongfully convicted, the Minister may quash the finding of guilty, and thereupon the following provisions shall have effect:—

(a) if no other finding of guilty by the court-martial in respect of the accused remains, the whole of the sentence passed by the court-martial shall cease to have effect;

(b) if—

(i) another finding (in this subsection referred to as the remaining finding) of guilty by the court-martial in respect of the accused remains, and

(ii) any punishment (in this subsection referred to as the original punishment) included in the sentence passed by the court-martial is in excess of the punishment authorised by this Act in respect of the remaining finding or is, in the opinion of the Minister, unduly severe, he may, subject to paragraph (c) of this subsection, substitute another punishment (in this subsection referred to as the substituted punishment) and the substituted punishment shall have effect as if it had been awarded by the court-martial and had been duly confirmed;

(c) the following provisions shall apply in relation to the substituted punishment:—

(i) it shall not be a punishment which could not have been awarded by the court-martial to the accused in respect of the remaining finding,

(ii) it shall not be higher in the Scale to subsection (1) of section 209 or subsection (1) of section 210 (whichever of those subsections is appropriate) than the original punishment,

(iii) if the sentence passed by the court-martial included penal servitude, the substituted punishment, if penal servitude, shall not involve a period of penal servitude exceeding the period comprised in the sentence,

(iv) if the sentence passed by such court-martial included imprisonment, the substituted punishment, if imprisonment or detention, shall not involve a period of imprisonment or detention exceeding the period comprised in the sentence,

(v) if the sentence passed by such court-martial included detention, the substituted punishment, if detention shall not involve a period of detention exceeding the period comprised in the sentence,

(vi) where the substituted punishment is detention and the original punishment is imprisonment, the term of detention from the date of substitution shall in no case exceed the term of imprisonment remaining to be served.