Criminal Justice Act, 1990

Special provision in relation to certain murders and attempts.

3.—(1) This section applies to—

(a) murder of a member of the Garda Síochána acting in the course of his duty,

(b) murder of a prison officer acting in the course of his duty,

(c) murder done in the course or furtherance of an offence under section 6 , 7 , 8 or 9 of the Offences against the State Act, 1939 , or in the course or furtherance of the activities of an unlawful organisation within the meaning of section 18 (other than paragraph (f)) of that Act, and

(d) murder, committed within the State for a political motive, of the head of a foreign State or of a member of the government of, or a diplomatic officer of, a foreign State,

and to an attempt to commit any such murder.

(2) (a) Subject to paragraph (b), murder to which this section applies, and an attempt to commit such a murder, shall be a distinct offence from murder and from an attempt to commit murder and a person shall not be convicted of murder to which this section applies or of an attempt to commit such a murder unless it is proved that he knew of the existence of each ingredient of the offence specified in the relevant paragraph of subsection (1) or was reckless as to whether or not that ingredient existed.

(b) Save as otherwise provided by this Act, the law and procedure relating to murder and an attempt to commit murder shall apply to the offence.

(3) In this section—

“diplomatic officer” means a member of the staff of a diplomatic mission of a foreign State having diplomatic rank;

“prison” means any place for which rules or regulations may be made under the Prisons Acts, 1826 to 1980, section 7 of the Offences against the State (Amendment) Act, 1940 , section 233 of the Defence Act, 1954 , section 2 of the Prisoners of War and Enemy Aliens Act, 1956 , or section 13 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1960 ;

“prison officer” includes any member of the staff of a prison and any person having the custody of, or having duties in relation to the custody of, a person detained in a prison.