In forceAmended2020 Revised Edition

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Singapore Armed Forces Act 1972 · 2020 Revised Edition · Part 5 · Trial by Subordinate Military Courts

111. Limitation of time for trial of offences

Amended

Last amended by an amending law of 2022.

(1)

Subject to subsection (2), a person must not pursuant to this Act be tried for any offence triable under this Act unless the trial is started within 3 years after the latest of the following dates:

(a)

the date on which the offence was committed;

(b)

the date on which information relating to the commission of that offence was reported to a disciplinary officer having jurisdiction over the accused or to a military policeman;

(c)

where any police investigation relating to a related civil offence has commenced before the expiry of the default limitation period —

(i)

the date on which the investigation ends; or

(ii)

if proceedings are instituted in a civil court as a result of that investigation — the applicable date under paragraph (d);

(d)

where proceedings are instituted in a civil court in respect of a related civil offence before the expiry of the default limitation period —

(i)

if the related civil offence was not alleged to have been committed by the person or the person is not sentenced to imprisonment, detention or reformative training — the date on which those proceedings end; or

(ii)

if the person is sentenced to imprisonment, detention or reformative training — the date on which the person completes the sentence of imprisonment, detention or reformative training;

(e)

where the person is sentenced to imprisonment, detention or reformative training for any civil offence before the expiry of the default limitation period — the date on which the person completes the sentence of imprisonment, detention or reformative training;

(f)

where a warrant for the arrest of the person is issued under section 169 before the expiry of the default limitation period but could not be executed within the default limitation period despite all reasonable efforts to do so due to the whereabouts of the accused being unknown — the date the person is arrested.

(2)

This section does not apply to a trial for the offence of misconduct in action, assisting the enemy, mutiny, absence without leave or desertion.

(3)

For the purpose of this section, the trial of any person by a subordinate military court for any offence starts when the person appears or is brought before a subordinate military court for the first time in connection with the offence, despite the fact that the subordinate military court before which the person appears or is brought for the first time may for any reason, adjourn or postpone the trial, and another subordinate military court is convened to try the person for the offence.

(4)

Where a serviceman has served continuously in an exemplary manner for not less than 3 years in the Singapore Armed Forces, the serviceman must not be tried for the offence of desertion (other than desertion on active service) if that offence was committed more than 3 years before the trial starts.

(5)

This section does not affect the jurisdiction of a civil court in the case of any offence triable by such court.

(6)

In this section —

“default limitation period” means the period of 3 years after the later of the dates mentioned in subsection (1)(a) and (b);

“related civil offence”, in relation to a person alleged to have committed an offence triable under this Act, means an alleged civil offence, whether alleged to have been committed by that person or another person, arising from the same factual matrix as the alleged offence triable under this Act, which, if tried in a civil court, may result in a finding by the civil court that has a material relevance to a finding at a trial by a subordinate military court of that person for the alleged offence triable under this Act.