Malicious Damage
MALICIOUS DAMAGE ACT
CHAPTER 11:06
LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
Act
11 of 1925
Amended by
20 of 1936
14 of 1939
20 of 1953
45 of 1979
*47 of 1980
*See Note on section 8 on page 2
Current Authorised Pages
Pages Authorised
(inclusive) by L.R.O.
1–20 ..
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Note on Subsidiary Legislation
This Chapter contains no subsidiary legislation.
Note on section 8
In the 1980 Revision, section 8 of Ch. 4. No. 13 (1950 Ed.) (i.e., the Malicious Damage
Ordinance) was deleted by Act No. 45 of 1979. Section 9 of Ch. 4. No. 13 then became
section 8 in the 1980 Revised Edition. However, before section 9 was renumbered in the revision
exercise, it was repealed and replaced by Act No. 47 of 1980 and now appears as section 8.
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LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
Malicious Damage Chap. 11:06 3
CHAPTER 11:06
MALICIOUS DAMAGE ACT
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
SECTION
1. Short title.
2. Interpretation.
PART I
INJURIES BY FIRE TO BUILDINGS AND
GOODS THEREIN
3. Setting fire to places of worship.
4. Setting fire to a dwelling house, any person being therein.
5. Setting fire to a house, outhouse, warehouse, and other buildings.
6. Setting fire to any public building.
7. Setting fire to other buildings.
8. Setting fire to goods in buildings, the setting fire to which is an
arrestable offence.
9. Placing inflammable materials with intent to set fire.
10. Conspiracy to set fire.
PART II
INJURIES BY EXPLOSIVE SUBSTANCES
TO BUILDINGS AND GOODS THEREIN
11. Destroying or damaging a house with gunpowder, any person being
therein.
12. Attempting to destroy buildings with gunpowder.
PART III
INJURIES TO BUILDINGS BY RIOTERS, ETC.
13. Rioters destroying church, building, machinery, etc.
14. Rioters injuring building, machinery, etc.
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ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS—Continued
SECTION
PART IV
INJURIES TO BUILDINGS BY TENANTS
15. Tenants of buildings maliciously injuring them.
PART V
INJURIES TO MACHINERY OR PLANT
16. Damage to certain machines and works.
PART VI
INJURIES TO CROPS, VEGETABLE PRODUCE,
OR PLANTATIONS
17. Setting fire to crops.
18. Setting fire to hay, straw, or implements.
19. Destroying trees, or underwood valued more than five hundred dollars
growing in a pleasure ground.
20. Destroying trees, or underwood valued more than five hundred dollars
not in pleasure ground.
PART VII
INJURIES TO SEA AND RIVER BANKS,
CANALS, PONDS, ETC.
21. Destroying sea banks, works on canals or rivers, or certain dams or
reservoirs.
22. Removing the piles of any sea bank, etc., or doing any damage to
obstruct the navigation of a river or canal.
23. Breaking down dam or fish pond or mill dam.
PART VIII
INJURIES TO BRIDGES, ETC.
24. Injury to a public bridge.
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SECTION
PART IX
INJURIES TO RAILWAYS, ETC.
25. Setting fire.
26. Injury to station buildings, etc.
27. Various offences.
28. Throwing stones or other articles with intent to injure.
29. Doing or omitting anything to endanger passengers.
30. Omitting to fasten gates.
31. Obstructing railway officers or trespassing.
Apprehension of offender.
PART X
INJURIES TO TELEGRAPHS, ETC.
32. Offences in regard to telegraphs.
Attempts.
PART XI
INJURIES TO WORKS OF ART
33. Destroying books, works of art or science, or articles of public interest.
PART XII
INJURIES TO CATTLE
34. Killing or maiming cattle.
Definition of “cattle”.
PART XIII
INJURIES TO SHIPS, ETC.
35. Setting fire to ships with intent to prejudice the owners or underwriters.
36. Placing gunpowder on or near a ship with intent to damage it.
37. Damaging ships otherwise than by fire.
38. Exhibiting false signals to danger of vessels.
39. Removing or concealing buoys and other sea marks.
40. Destroying wrecks or any articles belonging thereto.
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PART XIV
SENDING LETTERS THREATENING TO
BURN OR DESTROY
41. Sending letters threatening to burn or destroy buildings, crops, ships
or cattle.
PART XV
INJURIES TO VALUABLE SECURITIES,
DOCUMENTS OF TITLE, WILLS, ETC.
42. Destroying, etc., valuable securities.
Definitions.
43. Destroying, etc., Wills.
44. Destroying, etc., documents of record, etc.
PART XVI
INJURIES NOT BEFORE PROVIDED FOR
45. Persons committing malicious injuries not before provided for,
exceeding the amount of five hundred dollars.
PART XVII
MAKING EXPLOSIVE SUBSTANCE TO COMMIT
OFFENCES, AND SEARCHING FOR THE SAME
46. Making or having explosive substances, with intent to commit offence
against this Act.
47. Power to search and arrest suspected persons.
PART XVIII
SUPPLEMENTAL PROVISIONS
48. Malice against owner not essential to offence.
49. Act to apply to owner or to person in possession of property injured.
50. Intent to injure particular person need not be proved.
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS—Continued
SECTION
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Malicious Damage Chap. 11:06 7
CHAPTER 11:06
MALICIOUS DAMAGE ACT
An Act relating to malicious injuries to property.
[3RD APRIL 1925]
1. This Act may be cited as the Malicious Damage Act.
2. In this Act “constable” means any member of the Police
Service and includes the Special Reserve Police and any rural,
estate, city or borough constable.
PART I
INJURIES BY FIRE TO BUILDINGS AND
GOODS THEREIN
3. Any person who unlawfully and maliciously sets fire to
any church, chapel, meeting-house, or other place of divine worship
is liable to imprisonment for life.
4. Any person who unlawfully and maliciously sets fire to
any dwelling house, any person being therein, is liable to
imprisonment for life.
5. Any person who unlawfully and maliciously sets fire to any
house, stable, coach-house, outhouse, warehouse, office, store, shop,
mill, boiling-house, curing-house, still-house, storehouse, megass-
house, cocoa-house, barn, granary, shed, hovel, or fold, or to any
building or erection used in the cultivation, collection, or manufacture
of sugar, cocoa, coffee, or other produce, or in carrying on any trade
or manufacture, or any branch thereof, with intent thereby to injure
or defraud any person, is liable to imprisonment for life.
6. Any person who unlawfully and maliciously sets fire to
any building, other than those specified in sections 3 to 5, belonging
to the State, or to any city, borough, town, ward, parish, or place,
or to any Court of Justice, or devoted or dedicated to public use or
ornament, or erected or maintained by public subscription or
contribution, is liable to imprisonment for life.
1950 Ed.
Ch. 4. No. 13.
11 of 1925.
Commencement.
Short title.
Interpretation.
Setting fire to
places of
worship.
Setting fire to a
dwelling house,
any person
being therein.
Setting fire to a
house, outhouse,
warehouse and
other buildings.
Setting fire to
any public
building.
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7. Any person who unlawfully and maliciously sets fire to
any building other than those specified in sections 3 to 6, is liable
to imprisonment for ten years.
8. Any person who maliciously sets fire to any matter or
thing, being in, against or under any building under such
circumstances that, if the building were thereby set fire to, the
offence would amount to an arrestable offence, is liable to
imprisonment for ten years.
9. Any person who places in, against, or under any building
any petroleum or any mineral, vegetable, or other oil, or any hay,
straw, cotton-waste, or other combustible or inflammable material,
with intent to set fire to such building, under such circumstances
that, if fire were set to the building, the offender would be guilty
of an arrestable offence, or to render such building liable to take
fire under such circumstances as mentioned above, is liable to
imprisonment for ten years.
10. All persons who conspire, confederate, or agree to set fire
to any building under such circumstances that the actual setting of
such fire would be an arrestable offence, and whosoever solicits,
encourages, persuades, or endeavours to persuade, or proposes to
any person to set fire to any building, under such circumstances as
mentioned above, is liable to imprisonment for ten years.
PART II
INJURIES BY EXPLOSIVE SUBSTANCES TO BUILDINGS
AND GOODS THEREIN
11. Any person who unlawfully and maliciously, by the
explosion of gunpowder or other explosive substance,
destroys, throws down, or damages the whole or any part of
any dwelling house, any person being therein, or of any
building whereby the life of any person is endangered, is liable
to imprisonment for life.
Setting fire to
other buildings.
Setting fire to
goods in
buildings, the
setting fire to
which is an
arrestable
offence.
[47 of 1980].
Placing
inflammable
materials with
intent to set fire.
Conspiracy
to set fire.
Destroying or
damaging a
house with
gunpowder, any
person being
therein.
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12. Any person who unlawfully and maliciously places or
throws in, into, upon, under, against, or near any building any
gunpowder or other explosive substance, with intent to destroy or
damage any building, or any engine, machinery, working tools,
fixtures, goods, or chattels (whether or not any explosion takes
place, and whether or not any damage is caused) is liable to
imprisonment for ten years.
PART III
INJURIES TO BUILDINGS BY RIOTERS, ETC.
13. Any persons, riotously or tumultuously assembled together,
who unlawfully and with force, demolish, or pull down, or destroy,
or begin to demolish, pull down, or destroy, any church, chapel,
meeting-house or other place of divine worship, or any house,
stable, coach-house, outhouse, warehouse, office, shop, mill,
boiling-house, curing house, still-house, storehouse, megass-house,
cocoa-house, barn, granary, shed, hovel, or fold, or any building
or erection used in the collection or manufacture of sugar, cocoa,
coffee, or other produce, or in carrying on any trade or manufacture,
or any branch thereof, or any building, other than such as are in
this section mentioned above, belonging to the State or to any city,
borough, town, ward, parish, or place, or to any Court of Justice,
or devoted or dedicated to public use or ornament, or erected or
maintained by public subscription or contribution, or any
machinery, whether fixed or moveable, prepared for or employed
in any manufacture, or in any branch thereof, or upon or for the
purposes of any railway, or any steam engine or other engine, is
liable to imprisonment for ten years.
14. Any persons, riotously or tumultuously assembled together,
who unlawfully and with force injure or damage any property as is
specified in section 13 is liable to imprisonment for five years.
PART IV
INJURIES TO BUILDINGS BY TENANTS
15. Any person, being possessed of any dwelling house or other
building, or part of any dwelling house or other building, held for
any term of years or other less term, or at will, or held over after the
termination of any tenancy, who unlawfully and maliciously pulls
Attempting to
destroy
buildings with
gunpowder.
Rioters
destroying
church,
building,
machinery, etc.
Rioters injuring
building,
machinery, etc.
[45 of 1979].
Tenants of
buildings
maliciously
injuring them.
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down or demolishes or begins to pull down or demolish, the same
or any part thereof, or who unlawfully and maliciously pulls down
or severs from the freehold any fixture being fixed in or to such
dwelling house or building, or part of such dwelling house or
building, is liable to imprisonment for five years.
PART V
INJURIES TO MACHINERY OR PLANT
16. Any person who unlawfully and maliciously cuts, breaks,
or destroys, or damages with intent to destroy or to render useless,
any electric wire, pipe line, engine, or any part of the machinery,
works or plant, whether fixed or movable, used or intended to be
used for any agricultural, electrical, oil mining or oil refining
operation, or for the manufacture of any product whatsoever, or
for the conveyance or distribution of such product, is liable to
imprisonment for seven years.
PART VI
INJURIES TO CROPS, VEGETABLE PRODUCE, OR
PLANTATIONS
17. Any person who unlawfully and maliciously sets fire to
any crop of sugar canes, whether standing or cut down, or to any
crop of hay, grass, corn, or grain, or to any cultivated vegetable
produce, whether standing or cut down, or to any stack or stacked
heap of straw, trash, ground-cane megass, cane-tops, corn-stalks,
wood, or other matter used for fuel, or to any plantation of cocoa,
coffee, or other trees, or to any part of any wood, coppice, or
plantation of trees or valuable plants, or ground produce,
wheresoever the same may be growing, or to any trash reserved or
placed on any land in course of cultivation, is liable to imprisonment
for ten years.
18. Any person who unlawfully and maliciously sets fire to
any hay, straw, trash, megass, cane-tops, or corn-stalks, or to any
coal, wood, charcoal, or other substance whatsoever, or to any
implement of husbandry, being in any building whatsoever, with
intent thereby to set fire to such building and to injure or defraud,
is liable to imprisonment for ten years.
Damage to
certain machines
and works.
Setting fire to
crops.
Setting fire to
hay, straw, or
implements.
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19. Any person who unlawfully and maliciously cuts, breaks,
barks, roots up, or otherwise destroys or damages the whole or
any part of any tree, sapling, or shrub, or any underwood, growing
in any park, pleasure ground, garden, orchard, or avenue, or in any
ground adjoining or belonging to any dwelling house, where the
amount of injury done exceeds the sum of five hundred dollars, is
liable to imprisonment for two years.
20. Any person who unlawfully and maliciously cuts,
breaks, barks, roots up, or otherwise destroys or damages the
whole or any part of any tree, sapling, or shrub, or any
underwood, growing elsewhere than in any park, pleasure
ground, garden, orchard, or avenue, or in any ground adjoining
or belonging to any dwelling house, where the amount of the
injury done exceeds the sum of five hundred dollars, is liable
to imprisonment for two years.
PART VII
INJURIES TO SEA AND RIVER BANKS,
CANALS, PONDS, ETC.
21. Any person who unlawfully and maliciously breaks
down or cuts down or otherwise damages or destroys any sea
bank, or sea wall, or the bank, dam, or wall of or belonging to
any river, canal, drain, reservoir, or marsh, whereby any land
or building is or is in danger of being overflowed or damaged,
or who unlawfully and maliciously throws, breaks or cuts
down, levels, undermines or otherwise destroys any quay,
wharf, jetty, lock, sluice, or floodgate, or other work belonging
to any port, harbour, dock, or reservoir, or on or belonging to
any navigable river or canal, or who unlawfully and
maliciously damages or destroys any dam, reservoir or other
waterworks vested in the Water and Sewerage Authority or
constructed under the provisions of the Water and Sewerage
Act or operated, managed or controlled by the Authority
(whether vested in the Authority or not) is l iable to
imprisonment for ten years.
Destroying
trees, or
underwood
valued more
than five
hundred dollars
growing in a
pleasure ground.
[45 of 1979].
Destroying
trees, or
underwood
valued more
than five
hundred dollars
not in pleasure
ground.
[45 of 1979].
Destroying sea
banks, works on
canals or rivers,
or certain dams
or reservoirs.
[45 of 1979].
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22. Any person who unlawfully and maliciously cuts off, draws
up, or removes any piles, chalk, or other materials fixed in the
ground, and used for securing any sea bank or sea wall, or the
bank, dam, or wall of any river, canal, drain, aqueduct, marsh,
reservoir, pool, port, harbour, dock, quay, wharf, jetty, or lock, or
who unlawfully and maliciously opens or draws up any floodgate
or sluice, or do any other injury or mischief to any navigable river
or canal, with intent and so as thereby to obstruct or prevent the
carrying on, completing, or maintaining the navigation thereof, is
liable to imprisonment for five years.
23. Any person who unlawfully and maliciously cuts
through, breaks down, or otherwise destroys the dam,
floodgate, or sluice of any fish pond, or of any water which is
private property, or in which there is any private right of fishery,
with intent thereby to take or destroy any of the fish in such
pond or water, or so as thereby to cause the loss or destruction
of any of the fish, or who unlawfully and maliciously puts any
lime or other noxious material in any such pond or water, with
intent thereby to destroy any of the fish that may then be or that
may thereafter be put therein, or who unlawfully and maliciously
cuts through, breaks down, or otherwise destroys the dam or
floodgate of any mill pond, reservoir, or pool, is liable to
imprisonment for two years.
PART VIII
INJURIES TO BRIDGES, ETC.
24. Any person who unlawfully and maliciously pulls or
throws down or in anywise destroys any bridge (whether over
any stream of water or not), or any viaduct or aqueduct, over or
under which bridge, viaduct, or aqueduct any highway, railway,
or canal shall pass, or does any injury with intent and so as
thereby to render such bridge, viaduct, or aqueduct, or the
highway, railway, or canal passing over or under the same, or
any part thereof, dangerous or impassable, is liable to
imprisonment for ten years.
Removing the
piles of any sea
bank, etc., or
doing any
damage to
obstruct the
navigation of a
river or canal.
Breaking down
dam or fish
pond or mill
dam.
Injury to a
public bridge.
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PART IX
INJURIES TO RAILWAYS, ETC.
25. Any person who unlawfully and maliciously sets fire
to any station, engine-house, warehouse, or other building
belonging or appertaining to any railway is liable to
imprisonment for ten years.
26. Any person who unlawfully and maliciously—
(a) pulls or throws down or in anywise injures any
station, engine-house, warehouse, or other
building belonging or appertaining to any
railway; or
(b) pulls or throws down or cuts or otherwise injures
or removes any post, machinery, signal,
semaphore, connecting-rod, or wire, or other thing
belonging or appertaining to any railway,
is liable to imprisonment for four years.
27. (1) Any person who unlawfully does any of the
following acts:
(a) places or casts upon a railway any thing
whatsoever liable to explode or be exploded, or
calculated to obstruct, overthrow, destroy, or
injure any engine, tender, carriage, or truck, or to
injure or alarm any person travelling or being on
a railway, or to endanger the life or limb or
otherwise endanger the safety of any such person;
(b) takes up, removes, or displaces any rail or sleeper
or any other thing whatsoever belonging to
a railway;
(c) turns, moves, or diverts any points or other
machinery belonging to a railway;
(d) makes, shows, hides, or removes any signal or
light upon or near to a railway; or
Setting fire.
Injury to
station,
buildings, etc.
Various
offences.
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(e) throws, or in any manner projects at, upon, or into,
or wilfully lets falls upon or into, any train in
motion on any railway any stone or other thing
likely to cause injury or annoyance,
is liable to a fine of four thousand dollars or to imprisonment for
two years.
(2) Any person who unlawfully and maliciously—
(a) with intent to obstruct, overthrow, destroy, or
injure any engine, tender, carriage, or truck on a
railway; or
(b) with intent to endanger the life or limb or
otherwise endanger the safety of any person
travelling or being on a railway,
does any of the acts mentioned above, or any other act, is liable to
imprisonment for four years.
28. Any person who unlawfully throws, or causes to fall or
strike at, against, into, or upon any engine, tender, carriage, or
truck used upon any railway, any thing whatsoever, with intent to
injure or endanger the safety of any person being in or upon such
engine, tender, carriage, or truck, or in or upon any other engine,
tender, carriage, or truck of any train of which such first-mentioned
engine, tender, carriage, or truck forms part, is liable to
imprisonment for four years.
29. Any person who, by any unlawful act, or by any wilful
omission or neglect, obstructs or causes to be obstructed any engine,
tender, carriage, or truck on a railway, or endangers or causes to be
endangered the safety of any person conveyed or being in or upon
a railway, or aids or assists therein, is liable to imprisonment for
two years.
30. Any person who omits to shut and fasten any gate set up
on either side of any railway for the accommodation of the owners
or occupiers of the adjoining land as soon as he and any carriage,
wagon, dray, or cart, or any cattle or other animals under his care,
have passed through such gate, is liable on summary conviction to
a fine of two hundred dollars.
Throwing stones
or other articles
with intent to
injure.
Doing or
omitting
anything to
endanger
passengers.
Omitting to
fasten gates.
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31. (1) If any person wilfully obstructs or impedes in the
execution of his duty any officer employed upon any railway, or
upon or in any of the stations or other works or premises connected
with any railway, or if any person wilfully trespasses upon any
railway or any of the stations or other works or premises connected
with any railway, and refuses to quit the same upon request to him
made by any officer employed on such railway, every person so
offending, and all others aiding or assisting in any such offence, is
liable on summary conviction to a fine of one thousand dollars.
(2) Any such offender may be seized and detained by any
officer employed on such railway, or by any person whom he may
call to his assistance, until such offender can be conveniently taken
before a Justice to be dealt with according to law.
PART X
INJURIES TO TELEGRAPHS, ETC.
32. (1) Any person who unlawfully and maliciously cuts,
breaks, throws down, destroys, injures, or removes any battery,
machinery, wire, cable, post, or other thing whatsoever being part
of, or being used or employed in or about, any electric or magnetic
telegraph, or in the working thereof, or unlawfully and maliciously
prevents or obstructs in any manner whatsoever the sending,
conveyance, or delivery of any communication by any such
telegraph, is liable to imprisonment for two years.
(2) Any person who unlawfully and maliciously, by any
overt act, attempts to commit any of the offences mentioned in
this section is liable on summary conviction to a fine of four
hundred dollars or to imprisonment for six months.
PART XI
INJURIES TO WORKS OF ART
33. (1) Any person who unlawfully and maliciously destroys
or damages any book, manuscript, picture, statue, bust, or vase, or
any other article or thing kept for the purpose of art, science, or
literature, or as an object of curiosity, in any museum, gallery, cabinet,
library, or other repository, which museum, gallery, cabinet, library,
Obstructing
railway officers
or trespassing.
Apprehension
of offender.
Offences in
regard to
telegraphs.
Attempts.
Destroying
books, works of
art or science, or
articles of public
interest.
[20 of 1953].
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or other repository is either at all times or from time to time open for
the admission of the public or of any considerable number of persons
to view the same, either by the permission of the proprietor thereof, or
by the payment of money before entering the same, or any picture,
statue, monument, or other memorial of the dead, painted glass, or
other ornament, or work of art, in any church, chapel, meeting-house,
or other place of divine worship, or in any building belonging to the
State, or to any city, borough, town, ward, parish, or place, or to any
Court of Justice, or in any street, square, church yard, burial ground,
public garden or ground, or any statue or monument exposed to public
view, or any ornament, railing, or fence surrounding such statue or
monument, is liable to imprisonment for two years.
(2) Nothing in this section shall affect the right of
any person to recover, by action at law, damages for the injury
so committed.
PART XII
INJURIES TO CATTLE
34. (1) Any person who unlawfully and maliciously kills, maims,
or wounds any cattle is liable to imprisonment for seven years.
(2) For the purposes of this section, the expression “cattle”
includes horses, asses, mules, kine, sheep, goats, and swine, as
well as all horned cattle.
PART XIII
INJURIES TO SHIPS, ETC.
35. Any person who unlawfully and maliciously sets fire to
or casts away, or in anywise destroys any ship or vessel whether
the same be complete or in an unfinished state, is liable to
imprisonment for life.
36. Any person who unlawfully and maliciously places or
throws in, into, upon, against, or near any ship or vessel any
gunpowder or other explosive substance, with intent to destroy or
damage any ship or vessel or any machinery, working tools, goods,
or chattels (whether or not any explosion takes place, and whether
or not any injury is effected) is liable to imprisonment for ten years.
Killing or
maiming
cattle.
Definition
of “cattle”.
Setting fire to
ships with intent
to prejudice the
owners or
underwriters.
[45 of 1979].
Placing
gunpowder
on or near a
ship with intent
to damage it.
UNOFFICIAL VERSION
UPDATED TO DECEMBER 31ST 2014
MINISTRY OF LEGAL AFFAIRS www.legalaffairs.gov.tt
L.R.O.
LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
Malicious Damage Chap. 11:06 17
37. Any person who unlawfully and maliciously damages,
otherwise than by fire, gunpowder, or other explosive substance,
any ship or vessel, whether complete or in an unfinished state,
with intent to destroy the same or to render the same useless, is
liable to imprisonment for ten years.
38. Any person who unlawfully masks, alters or removes any
light or signal, or unlawfully exhibits any false light or signal,
with intent to bring any ship, vessel, or boat into danger, or who
unlawfully and maliciously does anything tending to the immediate
loss or destruction of any ship, vessel, or boat, and for which no
punishment is hereinbefore provided, is liable to imprisonment
for ten years.
39. Any person who unlawfully and maliciously cuts away,
casts adrift, removes, alters, defaces, sinks, or destroys, or who
unlawfully and maliciously does any act with intent to cut away,
cast adrift, remove, alter, deface, sink, or destroy, or who in any
other manner unlawfully and maliciously injures or conceals any
boat, buoy, rope, perch, or mark, used or intended for the guidance
of seamen for the purpose of navigation, is liable to imprisonment
for five years.
40. Any person who unlawfully and maliciously destroys any
part of any ship or vessel which is in distress, or wrecked, stranded,
or cast on shore, or any goods, merchandise, or articles of any
kind belonging to such ship or vessel, is liable to imprisonment
for seven years.
PART XIV
SENDING LETTERS THREATENING TO BURN
OR DESTROY
41. Any person who sends, delivers or utters, or directly or
indirectly causes to be received, knowing the contents thereof, any
letter or writing, threatening to burn or destroy any house, barn or
other building, or any growing crop, or any agricultural produce,
or any ship or vessel, or to kill, maim, or wound any cattle, is
liable to imprisonment for five years.
Damaging
ships otherwise
than by fire.
Exhibiting
false signals
to danger of
vessels.
Removing
or concealing
buoys and other
sea marks.
Destroying
wrecks or any
articles
belonging
thereto.
Sending letters
threatening to
burn or destroy
buildings, crops,
ships, or cattle.
UNOFFICIAL VERSION
UPDATED TO DECEMBER 31ST 2014
MINISTRY OF LEGAL AFFAIRS www.legalaffairs.gov.tt
LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
18 Chap. 11:06 Malicious Damage
PART XV
INJURIES TO VALUABLE SECURITIES, DOCUMENTS
OF TITLE, WILLS, ETC.
42. (1) Any person who unlawfully and maliciously, or for
any fraudulent purpose, destroys, injures, cancels, or obliterates
the whole or any part of any valuable security, or any document of
title to lands or goods, is liable to imprisonment for three years.
(2) For the purposes of this section, the expressions
“document of title to goods”, “document of title to lands”, and
“valuable security”, have the meanings assigned to these
expressions by section 2 of the Forgery Act.
43. Any person who, either during the life of the testator or
after his death, unlawfully and maliciously, or for any fraudulent
purpose, destroys, injures, cancels, obliterates, or conceals the
whole or any part of any Will, codicil, or other testamentary
instrument, whether the same relates to real or personal estate, or
to both, is liable to imprisonment for five years.
44. Any person who unlawfully and maliciously, or for any
fraudulent purpose, destroys, injures, cancels, or obliterates the whole
or any part of any record, writ, return, panel, process, interrogatory,
deposition, affidavit, order, or decree, or of any original document
whatsoever of or belonging to any Court of Justice, or relating to
any cause or matter, civil or criminal, begun, depending or
terminating in any Court of Justice, or of any original document in
anywise relating to the business of any office or employment in the
service of the State, or being or remaining in any office appertaining
to any Court of Justice, or in any Government or public office, is
liable to imprisonment for three years.
PART XVI
INJURIES NOT BEFORE PROVIDED FOR
45. Any person who unlawfully and maliciously commits any
damage, injury, or spoil to or upon any real or personal property
whatsoever, either of a public or private nature, for which no
punishment is provided, the damage, injury, or spoil being to an amount
exceeding five hundred dollars, is liable to imprisonment for two years.
Destroying, etc.,
valuable
securities.
Definitions.
Ch. 11:13.
Destroying, etc.,
Wills.
Destroying, etc.,
documents of
record, etc.
Persons
committing
malicious
injuries not
before provided
for, exceeding the
amount of five
hundred dollars.
[45 of 1979].
UNOFFICIAL VERSION
UPDATED TO DECEMBER 31ST 2014
MINISTRY OF LEGAL AFFAIRS www.legalaffairs.gov.tt
L.R.O.
LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
Malicious Damage Chap. 11:06 19
PART XVII
MAKING EXPLOSIVE SUBSTANCE TO COMMIT
OFFENCES, AND SEARCHING FOR THE SAME
46. Any person who makes or manufactures or knowingly has
in his possession, any gunpowder or other explosive substance, or
any dangerous or noxious thing, or any machine, engine,
instrument, or thing, with intent by means thereof to commit, or
for the purpose of enabling any other person to commit, any of the
arrestable offences mentioned in this Act, is liable to imprisonment
for two years.
47. Where there is reasonable cause to suspect that any
combustible or inflammable material is concealed or placed in,
against, or under any house, building, or other place for the pur-
pose of being used in committing any of the arrestable offences
mentioned in this Act, any Justice may, by warrant under his hand,
authorise any constable, with such assistance as may be necessary,
to enter and search at any time of the day or night such house,
building, or other place and any adjacent premises; and, if any
combustible or inflammable material is found, to convey the same
forthwith before any Magistrate, or to guard the same on the spot
or in some place of security subject to the orders of any Magistrate,
and to apprehend and convey before any Magistrate the person or
persons in, against, or under whose house, building, or place such
material is found, if any constable acting under any such warrant
as mentioned above has reasonable cause to suspect any such person
of having been privy to the concealment or placing of such material,
and also any other person found in or near such house, building, or
place who appears to have been privy to the concealment or placing
of such material.
PART XVIII
SUPPLEMENTAL PROVISIONS
48. Every punishment imposed by this Act on any person
maliciously committing any offence shall equally apply and be
enforced whether the offence is committed from malice conceived
against the owner of the property in respect of which it is committed
or otherwise.
Making or
having
explosive
substances,
with intent to
commit offence
against this Act.
Power to
search and
arrest suspected
persons.
Malice against
owner not
essential to
offence.
UNOFFICIAL VERSION
UPDATED TO DECEMBER 31ST 2014
MINISTRY OF LEGAL AFFAIRS www.legalaffairs.gov.tt
LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
20 Chap. 11:06 Malicious Damage
Act to apply
to owner or to
person in
possession of
property injured.
Intent to injure
particular person
need not be
proved.
49. Every provision of this Act not hereinbefore so applied
applies to every person who, with intent to injure or defraud any
other person, does any of the acts hereinbefore made penal,
although the offender is the owner or is in possession of the property
against or in respect of which such act is done.
50. On the trial of any person for any offence against this Act,
it shall not be necessary to prove an intent to injure or defraud any
particular person, but it shall be sufficient to prove that the party
accused did the act charged with an intent to injure or defraud, as
the case may be.
UNOFFICIAL VERSION
UPDATED TO DECEMBER 31ST 2014
MINISTRY OF LEGAL AFFAIRS www.legalaffairs.gov.tt
