Criminal damage act, 1991

• Enactment Date: 27 December 1991
• Act Number: 31

Number 31 of 1991
CRIMINAL DAMAGE ACT, 1991
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
Section 1. Interpretation. 2. Damaging property. 3. Threat to damage property. 4. Possessing any thing with intent to damage property. 5. Unauthorised accessing of data. 6. “Without lawful excuse”. 7. Proceedings. 8. Jurisdiction of District Court. 9. Compensation order. 10. Suspension of compensation order pending appeal. 11. Effect of compensation order on civil proceedings. 12. Arrest without warrant. 13. Search warrant. 14. Minor and consequential changes in existing law. 15. Repeal. 16. Short title and commencement.
Acts Referred to Children Act, 1908 1908, c. 67 Criminal Law (Jurisdiction) Act, 1976 1976, No. 14 Enforcement of Court Orders Act, 1940 1940, No. 23 Family Home Protection Act, 1976 1976, No. 27 Family Law (Protection of Spouses and Children) Act, 1981 1981, No. 21 Judicial Separation and Family Law Reform Act, 1989 1989, No. 6 Malicious Damage Act, 1861 1861, c. 97 Police (Property) Act, 1897 1897, c. 30 Probation of Offenders Act, 1907 1907, c. 17 Telegraph Acts, 1863 to 1916
Number 31 of 1991
CRIMINAL DAMAGE ACT, 1991
AN ACT TO AMEND THE LAW RELATING TO OFFENCES OF DAMAGE TO PROPERTY AND TO PROVIDE FOR CONNECTED MATTERS. [27th December, 1991]
BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:
	Interpretation.	1.—(1) In this Act—
	“compensation order” has the meaning assigned to it by section 9 (1);
	“to damage” includes—
	(a) in relation to property other than data (but including a storage medium in which data are kept), to destroy, deface, dismantle or, whether temporarily or otherwise, render inoperable or unfit for use or prevent or impair the operation of,
	(b) in relation to data—
	(i) to add to, alter, corrupt, erase or move to another storage medium or to a different location in the storage medium in which they are kept (whether or not property other than data is damaged thereby), or
	(ii) to do any act that contributes towards causing such addition, alteration, corruption, erasure or movement,
	(c) to do any act within the State that damages property outside the State,
	(d) to do any act outside the State that damages property within the State, and
	(e) to make an omission causing damage,
	and cognate words shall be construed accordingly;
	“data” means information in a form in which it can be accessed by means of a computer and includes a program;
	“property” means—
	(a) property of a tangible nature, whether real or personal, including money and animals that are capable of being stolen, and
	(b) data.
	(2) Property shall be treated for the purposes of this Act as belonging to any person—
	(a) having lawful custody or control of it,
	(b) having in it any proprietary right or interest (not being an equitable interest arising only from an agreement to transfer or grant an interest), or
	(c) having a charge over it.
	(3) Where, as respects an offence under section 2, 3 (a) or 4 (a)—
	(a) the property concerned is a family home within the meaning of the Family Home Protection Act, 1976 , and
	(b) the person charged—
	(i) is the spouse of a person who resides, or is entitled to reside, in the home, and
	(ii) is the subject of a protection order or barring order (within the meaning in each case of the Family Law (Protection of Spouses and Children) Act, 1981 ) or is excluded from the home pursuant to an order under section 16 (a) of the Judicial Separation and Family Law Reform Act, 1989 , or any other order of a court,
	sections 2, 3 (a) and 4 (a) shall have effect as if the references therein to any property belonging to another, however expressed, were references to the home.
	(4) Where property is subject to a trust, the persons to whom the property belongs shall be treated for the purposes of this Act as including any person having a right to enforce the trust.
	(5) Property of a corporation sole shall be treated for the purposes of this Act as belonging to the corporation notwithstanding a vacancy in it.
	(6) In this Act—
	(a) a reference to any enactment shall, unless the context otherwise requires, be construed as a reference to that enactment as amended or extended by or under any subsequent enactment including this Act,
	(b) a reference to a section is a reference to a section of this Act unless it is indicated that reference to some other enactment is intended,
	(c) a reference to a subsection, paragraph or subparagraph is a reference to the subsection, paragraph or subparagraph of the provision in which the reference occurs unless it is indicated that reference to some other provision is intended.
	Damaging property.	2.—(1) A person who without lawful excuse damages any property belonging to another intending to damage any such property or being reckless as to whether any such property would be damaged shall be guilty of an offence.
	(2) A person who without lawful excuse damages any property, whether belonging to himself or another—
	(a) intending to damage any property or being reckless as to whether any property would be damaged, and
	(b) intending by the damage to endanger the life of another or being reckless as to whether the life of another would be thereby endangered,
	shall be guilty of an offence.
	(3) A person who damages any property, whether belonging to himself or another, with intent to defraud shall be guilty of an offence.
	(4) An offence committed under this section by damaging property by fire shall be charged as arson.
	(5) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable—
	(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £1,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or both, and
	(b) on conviction on indictment—
	(i) in case the person is guilty of arson under subsection (1) or (3) or of an offence under subsection (2) (whether arson or not), to a fine or imprisonment for life or both, and
	(ii) in case the person is guilty of any other offence under this section, to a fine not exceeding £10,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years or both.
	(6) For the purposes of this section a person is reckless if he has foreseen that the particular kind of damage that in fact was done might be done and yet has gone on to take the risk of it.
	Threat to damage property.	3.—A person who without lawful excuse makes to another a threat, intending that that other would fear it would be carried out—
	(a) to damage any property belonging to that other or a third person, or
	(b) to damage his own property in a way which he knows is likely to endanger the life of that other or a third person,
	shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable—
	(i) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £1,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or both, and
	(ii) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding £10,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years or both.
	Possessing any thing with intent to damaged property.	4.—A person (in this section referred to as the possessor) who has any thing in his custody or under his control intending without lawful excuse to use it or cause or permit another to use it—
	(a) to damage any property belonging to some other person, or
	(b) to damage his own or the intended user's property—
	(i) in a way which he knows is likely to endanger the life of a person other than the possessor, or
	(ii) with intent to defraud,
	shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable—
	(A) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £1,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or both, and
	(B) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding £10,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years or both.
	Unauthorised accessing of data.	5.—(1) A person who without lawful excuse operates a computer—
	(a) within the State with intent to access any data kept either within or outside the State, or
	(b) outside the State with intent to access any data kept within the State,
	shall, whether or not he accesses any data, be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £500 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months or both.
	(2) Subsection (1) applies whether or not the person intended to access any particular data or any particular category of data or data kept by any particular person.
	“Without lawful excuse”.	6.—(1) This section applies to—
	(a) any offence under section 2 (1) or 5,
	(b) any offence under section 3 other than one involving a threat by the person charged to damage property in a way which he knows is likely to endanger the life of another, and
	(c) any offence under section 4 other than one involving an intent by the person charged to use, or cause or permit the use of, something in his custody or under his control to damage property in such a way as aforesaid.
	(2) A person charged with an offence to which this section applies shall, whether or not he would be treated for the purposes of this Act as having a lawful excuse apart from this subsection, be treated for those purposes as having a lawful excuse—
	(a) if at the time of the act or acts alleged to constitute the offence he believed that the person or persons whom he believed to be entitled to consent to or authorise the damage to (or, in the case of an offence under section 5, the accessing of) the property in question had consented, or would have consented to or authorised it if he or they had known of the damage or the accessing and its circumstances,
	(...