Section 20 - Abetment of a criminal offence

(1) A person who, directly or indirectly, instigates, commands, counsels, procures, solicits, or in any other manner purposely aids, facilities, encourages, or promotes, whether by a personal act or presence or otherwise, and a person who does an act for the purposes of aiding, facilitating, encouraging, or promoting the commission of a criminal offence by any other person, whether known or unknown, certain, or uncertain, commits the criminal offence of abetting that criminal offence, and of abetting the other person in respect of that criminal offence.

(2) A person who abets a criminal offence shall, if the criminal offence is actually committed in pursuance of, or during the continuance of, the abetment, be deemed to have committed that criminal offence.

(3) A person who abets a criminal offence is, if the criminal offence is not actually committed,

(a) liable to imprisonment for life where the criminal offence abetted was punishable by death; and

(b) in any other case the abettor is punishable in the same manner as if the criminal offence had been actually committed in pursuance of the abetment.

(4) An abettor may be tried before, with, or after a person abetted, and although the person abetted is dead or is otherwise not amenable to justice.

(5) An abettor may be tried before, with, or after any other abettor, whether the abettor and any other abettor abetted each other in respect of the criminal offence or not, and whether they abetted the same or different parts of the criminal offence.

(6) An abettor shall have the benefit of any matter of exception, justification, or extenuation to which the abettor is entitled under this Act, although the person abetted or any other abettor is not entitled to the like benefit.

(7) A person who, within the jurisdiction of the Court, abets the doing beyond the jurisdiction of an act which, if done within the jurisdiction, would be a criminal offence, is punishable as if that person had abetted that criminal offence.

Illustrations

Subsection (1)

1. A encourages B to commit a murder. Here A commits the criminal offence of abetting murder.

2. A offers B ¢20,000 to assault C. Here A commits the criminal offence of abetting an assault on C.

3. A and B are fighting unlawfully. C and others hinder a peace officer from stopping the fight. Here C and the others have committed the criminal offence of abetting the fight.

Subsection (2) A encourages B to commit unlawful entry. B attempts to commit the unlawful entry, but is discovered and arrested. Here A is punishable as if A had committed the unlawful entry.

Subsection (3) A unlawfully strikes B. B and others immediately set upon A and beat A so that A dies. Here, if the blow struck by A amounts to a provocation to B, (section 53), B may have committed the criminal offence of manslaughter, although the others may have committed the criminal offence of murder.

Subsection (7) A who is in Accra, incites B to carry a ship to sea and scuttle the ship with intent to defraud the underwriters. A is liable under this provision.