Section 246Part 9 — Offences Relating to Property
Taking conveyance without authority
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246. (1) A person who, for that person’s own or another’s use, takes any conveyance constructed or adapted for the carriage of a person or persons whether by land, water or air without having the consent thereto of the owner or hirer thereof under a self-drive or hire purchase contract or not having other lawful authority or, knowing that such conveyance has been taken without such consent or authority, drives it or allows themselves to be carried in or on it commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of one thousand dollars and to imprisonment for two years.
A person charged with theft may be found guilty of an offence under subsection (1) and in such event is punishable under that section by the court before which that person is tried. Penal Code (2026 Revision) Section 247 c Revised as at 31st December, 2025 Page 109
It is a defence to a charge under subsection (1) to show, that the person charged had an honest belief that that person acted under lawful authority or that in the circumstances the owner would have given that person consent had the owner been aware of the taking.
For the purposes of Schedule 1 of the Criminal Procedure Code (2026 Revision) an offender under subsection (1) commits an arrestable offence.
Where the conveyance is a vehicle as defined in the Traffic Act (2026 Revision), the court shall also have mutatis mutandis all the powers conferred by sections 92, 93 and 94 of that Act and in particular may —
disqualify the offender from driving such a vehicle for a period of twelve months from the date of conviction or the expiration of any sentence of imprisonment and from holding or obtaining a driver’s licence for such a vehicle; and
order that particulars of the conviction be endorsed on the offender’s driving licence.