059-NLR-NLR-V-02-MEEDIN-v.-KIRIHATANA-et-al.pdf
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MEEDIN v. KTRIHATANA el al.
D. C. (Criminal), KtgaUa, 869.
Ceylon Penal Code, s. 67—Offence made up of parts, each being itself anoffence—Conviction of accused of such offence.
A breaks into a dwelling-house at night and steals some propertytherefrom. His conviction both of house-breaking by night inorder to the commission of an offence punishable with imprison-ment and of theft from a building used as a human dwelling wouldbe obnoxious to section 67* of the Ceylon Penal Code.
TN this case the accused, two in number, were charged (1) withhouse-breaking by night in order to the committing of anoffence punishable with imprisonment—to wit, theft, an offencepunishable under section 443 of the Ceylon Penal Code; and (2)with theft from a building used as a human dwelling, an offencepunishable under section 369 of the Ceylon Penal Code. The. evidence showed that in the night of the 18th April, 1896, the accusedbroke into the house of one Mohidin and stole therefrom-certaincrockery, a teapot, a knife, and a bag containing 2,000 arecanuts.The District Judge convicted the accused of both the offences withwhich they were charged, and sentenced each to undergo twelvemonths’ rigorous imprisonment for each offence. The accusedappealed.
Be Saram, for accused, appellants.
■Rdmandthan, Acting A.-O., for the Crown.
Cur. adv. wilt.
6th August, 1896. Lawrie, J.—
I affirm the conviction and sentence of the accused for house-breaking by night with intent to commit theft, an offence punishableunder section 443,
I do not approve of the separate conviction for theft from adwelling-house under section 369, and of the separate sentencesfor that offence.
The sentence seems to me to be contrary to the provisions of the67th section of the Penal Code.
I follow the Indian authorities quoted by Starling in his com-mentary on the 458th section of the Indian Penal Code, andespecially T follow the judgment of my brother Withers on thispoint in the case D. C., Kalutara, 650, 16th December, 1895.
I set aside the sentence under section 369. The sentence istherefore one year’s rigorous imprisonment on each of the accused.
* Ceylon Penal Code, section 67. offender shall not be punished—Where anything which is an with the punishment of more thanoffence is made up of parts, any of one of such his offences, unless itwhich parts is itself an offence, the be so expressly provided.
16-
1896.
August $and 6.