Defence Act 1954

225

F342[Orders for restitution.

225. (1) Where a person is convicted by a court-martial of an offence under section 155 or 156, the military judge may on the conviction (whether or not the passing of sentence is in other respects deferred)

(a) order anyone having possession or control of the property which is the subject of the offence to restore it to any person entitled to recover it from the convicted person,

(b) on the application of a person entitled to recover from the convicted person any other property directly or indirectly representing the property referred to in paragraph (a) of this subsection (as being the proceeds of any disposal or realisation of the whole or part of it or of property so representing it), order that other property to be delivered or transferred to the applicant, or

(c) order that a sum not exceeding the value of the property referred to in paragraph (a) of this subsection shall be paid, out of any money of the convicted person which was taken out of his possession when arrested, to any person who, if the property were in the possession of the convicted person, would be entitled to recover that property from him.

(2) Where the military judge has power on a persons conviction to make an order against the person under both paragraphs (b) and (c) of subsection (1) of this section, the military judge may make orders under both paragraphs, if the person in whose favour the orders are made does not thereby recover more than the value of the property which is the subject of the offence concerned.

(3) Where

(a) an order is made under subsection (1)(a) of this section for the restoration of any property, and

(b) it appears to the military judge that the convicted person has sold the property to a person acting in good faith or has borrowed money on the security of it from a person so acting,

then, on the application of the purchaser or lender, the military judge may order that there shall be paid to the applicant, out of any money of the convicted person which was taken out of his possession when arrested, a sum not exceeding the amount paid for the purchase by the applicant or, as the case may be, the amount owed to the applicant in respect of the loan.

(4) (a) The military judge shall not exercise the powers conferred by this section unless in his opinion the relevant facts sufficiently appear from evidence given at the trial or the available documents, together with admissions made by or on behalf of any person in connection with any proposed exercise of the powers.

(b) In paragraph (a) of this subsection "available documents" means

(i) any written statements or admissions which were made for use, and would have been admissible in evidence, at the trial, and

(ii) any written statements or admissions used as evidence at the trial or in any such proceedings.

(5) This section shall have effect only in relation to offences wholly or partly committed on or after the commencement of this section.

(6) This section is without prejudice to the Police (Property) Act 1897 (disposal of property in the possession of the Garda Síochána).]

Annotations

Amendments:

F342

Substituted (21.04.2007) by Defence (Amendment) Act 2007 (24/2007), s. 65, commenced as per s. 1(3).