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This is a Bill, not an Act. For current law, see the Acts databases.
South Australia
Criminal Law Consolidation (Protection for Working
Animals) Amendment Bill 2013
A BILL FOR
An Act to amend the Criminal
Law Consolidation Act 1935.
Contents
Part 1—Preliminary
1Short
title
2Commencement
3Amendment
provisions
Part 2—Amendment of Criminal Law
Consolidation Act 1935
4Insertion of Part 3C
Part 3C—Protection for working
animals
83HInterpretation
83ICausing death or serious harm
etc to working animals
83JCourt may order compensation and
other costs
83KEnforcement of order for compensation
etc
83LEvidentiary
The Parliament of South Australia enacts as
follows:
This Act may be cited as the Criminal Law Consolidation (Protection for
Working Animals) Amendment Act 2013.
This Act will come into operation on a day to be fixed by
proclamation.
In this Act, a provision under a heading referring to the amendment of a
specified Act amends the Act so specified.
Part 2—Amendment
of Criminal Law Consolidation
Act 1935
After section 83G insert:
Part 3C—Protection for working
animals
83H—Interpretation
(1) In this Part—
accredited guide dog means—
(a) a dog accredited as a guide dog under section 21 of the Dog
and Cat Management Act 1995; or
(b) a dog accredited as a guide dog (however described) under a law of a
State or Territory that provides for the accreditation of animals trained to
assist a person with a disability to alleviate the effect of the
disability;
correctional services dog has the same meaning as in the
Correctional
Services Act 1982;
guide dog has the same meaning as in the Dog
and Cat Management Act 1995;
harm means physical harm (whether temporary or permanent) but
does not include mental harm;
police dog means a dog (including a drug detection dog within
the meaning of the
Controlled
Substances Act 1984) that—
(a) has completed training of a kind approved by the Commissioner of
Police; and
(b) is used by, or to assist, police officers in the performance of their
official duties and functions;
police horse means a horse that—
(a) has completed training of a kind approved by the Commissioner of
Police; and
(b) is used by, or to assist, police officers in the performance of their
official duties and functions;
serious harm, in relation to a working animal,
means—
(a) harm that endangers the animal's life; or
(b) harm that results in the animal being so severely injured, so diseased
or in such physical condition that it would be cruel not to destroy the animal;
or
(c) harm that consists of, or results in, serious and protracted
impairment of a physical or mental function of the animal; or
(d) harm that results in the animal being unable to satisfactorily perform
its working function;
working animal means—
(a) a police dog; or
(b) a police horse; or
(c) a correctional services dog; or
(d) an accredited guide dog; or
(e) any other animal, or animal of a class, declared by the regulations to
be included in the ambit of this definition;
working function, of a working animal, means the function or
functions for which the animal has been trained and is ordinarily used (whether
or not the working animal also performs other functions).
(2) Without limiting section 370, regulations made for the purposes
of this Part may—
(a) make provision for or relating to facilitation of proof of the
commission of offences against the Part;
(b) be of general application or vary in their application according to
prescribed factors;
(c) provide that a matter or thing in respect of which regulations may be
made is to be determined according to the discretion of the Minister or a
specified person or body.
83I—Causing death or serious harm etc to working
animals
(1) A person who,
by an intentional act, causes the death of, or serious harm to, a working animal
is guilty of an offence.
Maximum penalty: Imprisonment for 5 years.
(2)
Subsection (1)
does not apply to the death of a working animal, or the causing of serious harm
to a working animal, that occurs in the following circumstances:
(a) where the death or serious harm is caused in the course of the
provision of veterinary treatment to the working animal;
(b) where the death or serious harm is caused by, or with the consent of,
the owner of the working animal or a person assisting the owner;
(c) where the death or serious harm occurs in the course of training the
animal to perform its working function;
(d) where the death occurs under section 34B of the Animal
Welfare Act 1985;
(e) where the death or serious harm occurs pursuant to an order under
section 50 of the Dog
and Cat Management Act 1995;
(f) where the death occurs under section 63 of the Dog
and Cat Management Act 1995;
(g) any other circumstances prescribed by the regulations.
(3) In proceedings for an offence against
subsection (1),
it is a defence for the defendant to prove that he or she did not know, and
could not reasonably have been expected to have known, that an animal the
subject of the charge was a working animal.
(4) In proceedings for an offence against
subsection (1),
a defence that would, but for this subsection, be available to the defendant
under Part 3 Division 2 will be taken not to be available to a
defendant if—
(a) the working animal the subject of the charge is a police dog, police
horse or a correctional services dog; and
(b) the death or serious harm occurs in the course of, or is related
to—
(i) the commission of an offence by the defendant or a person in the
company of the defendant; or
(ii) the defendant taking steps to avoid being taken into, or escape from,
lawful custody; or
(iii) the defendant resisting another who is exercising a power in the
course of his or her official duties or functions.
(5) In proceedings for an offence against
subsection (1),
the prosecution need not prove that the defendant knew that his or her act would
cause death or serious harm to the working animal, or to a particular working
animal.
(6) This section is in addition to, and does not derogate from, the Animal
Welfare Act 1985.
83J—Court may order compensation and other
costs
(1) A court may, on application by the prosecutor or on the court's own
initiative, make an order requiring a person found guilty of an offence against
section 83I to
pay 1 or more of the following amounts:
(a) an amount by way of compensation for veterinary and other expenses
reasonably incurred in treating the working animal to which the offence
relates;
(b) an amount for reasonable rehabilitation or retraining of the working
animal to which the offence relates, having regard to the primary function of
the working animal;
(c) if the working animal to which the offence relates is permanently
unable to perform its primary function as a result of the offence—an
amount equal to the actual or expected costs of replacing the working animal
with one of similar abilities and training;
(d) if the working animal to which the offence relates is permanently
unable to perform its primary function as a result of the offence—an
amount equal to the actual or expected costs of retiring the working animal
(including, but not limited to, the costs of relocating and rehousing the
animal, and retraining the animal to ensure it is adapted to life other than as
a working animal);
(e) any other amount the court thinks appropriate in the
circumstances.
(2) A court must, if it does not make an order under this section, give
its reasons for not doing so.
(3) Compensation under this section will be of such amount as the court
considers appropriate having regard to any evidence before the court and to any
representations made by or on behalf of the prosecutor or the person against
whom the order is made.
(4) Compensation may be ordered under this section in relation to an
offence despite the fact that compensation may be ordered under some other
statutory provision that relates more specifically to the offence or proceedings
in respect of the offence.
(5) The amount paid to a person pursuant to an order under this section
must be taken into consideration by a court or any other body in awarding
compensation for the relevant loss or damage under any other Act or
law.
83K—Enforcement of order for compensation
etc
An order under
section 83J—
(a) will, for the purposes of the Criminal
Law (Sentencing) Act 1988, be taken to be a pecuniary sum (within
the meaning of that Act); and
(b) may be enforced as if it were a compensation order made under
section 53 of that Act.
83L—Evidentiary
(1) In any proceedings for an offence against this Part, an apparently
genuine document purporting to be signed by the Commissioner of Police and to
certify that an animal specified in the certificate had completed the training
specified in the certificate will, in the absence of proof to the contrary, be
proof of the matters so certified.
(2) In any proceedings for an offence against this Part, an apparently
genuine document purporting to be signed by the Dog and Cat Management Board and
to certify that a dog specified in the certificate was accredited as a guide dog
under the Dog
and Cat Management Act 1995 will, in the absence of proof to the
contrary, be proof of the matters so certified.
(3) In any proceedings for an offence against this Part, an apparently
genuine document purporting to be signed by a person or body that accredits
animals as contemplated by section 9(2) of the Disability Discrimination
Act 1992 of the Commonwealth and to certify that an animal specified in
the certificate was the subject of a specified accreditation will, in the
absence of proof to the contrary, be proof of the matters so
certified.