Penal Code - Singapore Statutes Online

Enhanced penalties for offences against person below 14 years of age

74B.—(1) Subsection (2) applies to any offence under this Code which may be committed against a person below 14 years of age except where —

(a)	it is expressly provided that an enhanced or mandatory minimum sentence will apply to the offence when it is committed against a person below 14 years of age;
(b)	the offence is under section 304B, 304C, 377BG, 377BH, 377BI, 377BJ or 377BK; or
(c)	the offence is punishable with death or imprisonment for life.

(2) Where any person commits an offence under this Code against a person below 14 years of age, the court may sentence the person convicted of the offence to punishment not exceeding twice the maximum punishment that the court could, but for this section, impose for the offence if at the time of committing the offence the offender knew or ought reasonably to have known that the victim was a person below 14 years of age.

(3) This section does not apply where the offender proves that the victim despite being a person below 14 years of age, was capable of protecting himself from the offender in respect of the harm caused by the offence in the same manner as a person of or above 14 years of age.

(4) Despite anything to the contrary in the Criminal Procedure Code —

(a)	a Magistrate’s Court has jurisdiction to try the offences to which subsection (2) applies, where no imprisonment is prescribed or where twice the maximum term of imprisonment prescribed for the offence does not exceed 5 years, and has power to impose the full punishment provided under subsection (2) in respect of those offences; and
(b)	a District Court has jurisdiction to try the offences to which subsection (2) applies and has power to impose the full punishment provided under subsection (2) in respect of those offences. [Act 15 of 2019 wef 01/01/2020]

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