Criminal Procedure Code 2010 - Singapore Statutes Online

If it is doubtful what offence has been committed

138. If a single act or series of acts is such that it is doubtful which of several offences the provable facts will constitute, the accused may be charged with all or any of those offences and any number of the charges may be tried at once, or the accused may be charged in the alternative with any one of those offences.

Illustrations

(a)

A is accused of an act that may amount to theft or receiving stolen property or criminal breach of trust or cheating. A may be charged with theft, receiving stolen property, criminal breach of trust and cheating, or A may be charged with having committed theft or receiving stolen property or criminal breach of trust or cheating.

(b)

A states on oath before the committing Magistrate that A saw B hit C with a club. Before the General Division of the High Court, A states on oath that B never hit C. A may be charged in the alternative and convicted of intentionally giving false evidence although it cannot be proved which of these contradictory statements was false.

[40/2019]

When person charged with one offence can be convicted of another

139. If in the case mentioned in section 138 the accused is charged with one offence and it appears in evidence that the accused committed a different offence for which the accused might have been charged under that section, the accused may be convicted of the offence that the accused is shown to have committed although the accused was not charged with it.

Illustration

A is charged with theft. In evidence it appears that A committed the offence of criminal breach of trust or of receiving stolen goods. A may be convicted of criminal breach of trust or of receiving stolen goods (as the case may be), although A was not charged with that offence.

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