Part II
Variation of conviction so as to attract different sentence. 15.—(1) Where an appellant has been convicted of an offence committed under circumstances involving the higher of two degrees of punishment, and it appears to the Appeal Court that the court-martial by which he was tried ought to have found him guilty of the offence as being committed under circumstances involving the lower degree of punishment, the Court may, instead of allowing or dismissing the appeal, substitute for the finding of the court-martial a finding of guilty of the offence as being committed under circumstances involving the lower degree of punishment.
(2) Where an appellant has been convicted of an offence and it appears to the Appeal Court that the court-martial by which he was tried ought to have found him guilty of the offence subject to exceptions or variations, the Court may, instead of allowing or dismissing the appeal, substitute for the finding of the court-martial a finding of guilty of the offence subject to exceptions or variations.
(3) Where the Appeal Court exercise the power conferred by subsection (1) or subsection (2) above, they may pass on the appellant, in substitution for the sentence passed on him by the court-martial, such sentence as they think proper, being a sentence warranted by the relevant Service Act for the offence specified or involved in the substituted finding, but not a sentence of greater severity.
Substitution of finding of insanity or unfitness to plead. 16.—(1) This section applies in a case where, on an appeal, the Appeal Court are of opinion—
- (a) that the proper finding would have been a finding of not guilty by reason of insanity; or
- (b) that the case is not one where there should have been a finding of not guilty, but that there should have been a finding that the accused was unfit to stand his trial.
(2) The Appeal Court shall order the appellant to be kept in custody under the relevant Service enactment in like manner as on a finding of not guilty by reason of insanity or a finding of unfitness to stand trial by the court-martial by which the appellant was convicted.
(3) In subsection (2) above, the “relevant Service enactment” means—
- section 63 of the Naval Discipline Act;
- section 116 of the Army Act; or
- section 116 of the Air Force Act,
(being enactments which provide for a person to be kept in custody until the pleasure of Her Majesty is made known), according to whether the appellant was convicted by a naval, army or air force court-martial.
