Revised Laws of Saint Lucia (2023)

20.   Offences and penalties

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   (1)   Where any act or omission constitutes an offence under 2 or more enactments or under an enactment and any other law in force in the Island, the offender shall be liable to be prosecuted and punished under either or any of those enactments or under that other law, but shall not be liable to be punished twice for the same offence.

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   (2)   Where an offence under any enactment passed after the commencement of this Act has been committed by a body corporate the liability of whose members is limited, then notwithstanding and without prejudice to the liability of that body, any person who at the time of such commission was a director, general manager, secretary or other like officer of that body or was purporting to act in any such capacity shall, subject to subsection (3), be liable to be prosecuted as if he or she had personally committed that offence and shall, if on such prosecution it is proved to the satisfaction of the court that he or she consented to, or connived at, or did not exercise all such reasonable diligence as he or she ought in the circumstances to have exercised to prevent the offence, having regard to the nature of his or her functions in that capacity and to all the circumstances, be liable to the like conviction and punishment as if he or she had personally been guilty of that offence.

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   (3)   A person shall not be charged under subsection (2) except upon the direction of the Attorney General.

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   (4)   An enactment creating criminal liability for an act or omission which, apart from that enactment, would give rise to civil liability shall not, in the absence of express provision to the contrary, operate to prejudice the civil liability but this subsection shall not be construed as excluding the application of any rule of law which restricts the right to take civil proceedings in respect of an act or omission which constitutes a felony.

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   (5)   Where an enactment provides a punishment for an offence against the enactment, the offence shall be punishable by a punishment not exceeding that so provided.

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   (6)   Where at the end of a section of any enactment a fine, penalty or term of imprisonment is set out, any contravention of that section shall be an offence against the enactment and shall be punishable by a fine, penalty or term of imprisonment not exceeding that so set out.

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   (7)   Where an enactment passed or made after the commencement of this Act creates an offence the enactment shall operate to provide also that an attempt to commit that offence is an offence under the enactment and punishable as if the offence itself had been committed.

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   (8)   Where under any enactment imprisonment may be awarded it may be awarded with or without hard labour.

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   (9)   Where under any enactment any animal or thing is or is ordered by a competent authority to be confiscated or forfeited, it shall be deemed to be forfeited to the Crown for the purposes of the Island.

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   (10)   Where under any enactment any animal or thing ordered or deemed to be forfeited to the Crown is required to be sold, the net proceeds of any such sale shall be paid into and form part of the general revenue of the Island.

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   (11)   Subsection (9) or (10) shall not prejudice any enactment under which the whole or any part of any fine, penalty or forfeit or the proceeds of any forfeit is recoverable by any person or may be granted by any authority to any person.

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   (12)   Any fine or pecuniary penalty imposed by or under an enactment shall be payable into the general revenue of the Island.

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   (13)   Where in an enactment an offence is declared to be punishable on summary conviction the procedure in respect of the trial and punishment of the offence and the recovery of the penalty, and all matters incidental to or arising out of the trial and punishment of the offence or the recovery of the penalty, shall be in accordance with the provisions of the Criminal Code dealing with proceedings before a magistrate.