Criminal Law Code as at 1st March 2007
except that the means he or she used to avert the unlawful attack were not reasonable in all the
circumstances.
PART XV
ENTRAPMENT
260
Entrapment no defence to crimes
It shall not be a defence to a crime that the accused was trapped into committing the crime
concerned, that is to say that the police or other authority or person, by using any inducement or
encouragement, caused the accused to commit it for the purpose of obtaining evidence of its
commission, but a court may, where it considers that unfair or undesirable entrapment methods
were used by the police or other authority or person, take the manner of such entrapment into
account as a factor in mitigation of sentence.
PART XVI
IMPOSSIBILITY
261
Requirements for impossibility to be complete defence
(1) Where a person is accused of a crime of which an essential element consists of a failure,
omission or refusal to do anything, the fact that it was physically impossible for the accused to
do that thing shall be a complete defence to the charge if⎯
(a) the impossibility was absolute, that is to say, if it was objectively impossible for
anyone in the accused’s position to have done that thing; and
(b) the impossibility was not due to the accused’s own fault.
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), the fact that it is extremely difficult for a person to
do a thing shall not constitute impossibility.
(3) This section shall not prevent a court, when imposing sentence upon a convicted
person, from taking due account of any difficulty experienced by him or her in complying with
a law.
PART XVII
NECESSITY
262
Application of Part XVII of Chapter XIV
This Part shall not apply to cases where the harm sought to be avoided consisted of a threat
which could give rise to a defence of compulsion in terms of Part XI.
263
Requirements for necessity to be complete defence
(1) Subject to this Part, the fact that it was necessary for a person accused of a crime to do
or omit to do anything that is an essential element of the crime in order to avoid harm to himself
or herself or to another person shall be a complete defence to the charge if⎯
(a) the harm which he or she sought to avoid would have resulted in⎯
(i) death or serious bodily injury to himself or herself or to another person; or
(ii) considerable financial or proprietary loss to himself or herself;
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