House Passes Praedial Larceny Act Amendments to Combat Agricultural Theft

The House of Representatives, on Tuesday (June 17), passed amendments to the Praedial Larceny Act, aimed at combatting the theft of agricultural produce, livestock and fish.

Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Hon. Floyd Green, who piloted the legislation, stated that, upon enactment, the Bill will strengthen the penalties for offences committed under the Act or those outlined in its First Schedule.

“The objective of the amendments is to improve deterrence and reinforce the legal framework by increasing the fines and terms of imprisonment to effectively address the persistent challenges posed by agricultural crimes, thereby safeguarding the sector,” he said.

“For instance, this Bill seeks to expand the powers of the Agricultural Wardens, enabling them to enforce provisions under related legislation, including the Agricultural Produce Act, and the Animals (Diseases and Importation) (Marking of Bovine Animals) Regulations,” Mr. Green added.

He further indicated that the Bill will introduce consequential amendments to critical enactments in the First Schedule, strengthening weak penalties under specific pieces of legislation, such as the Trespass Act, Malicious Injuries to Property Act, Unlawful Possession of Property Act, and Country Fires Act.

“We will include additional offences under the Larceny Act, such as robbery and receiving stolen property, and under the Malicious Injuries to Property Act, such as setting fire to crops, to give wardens broader powers to act in agricultural-related crimes,” Mr. Green stated.

Regarding amendments to the Principal Act, Mr. Green said Section 12 addresses the forfeiture of property used in the commission of an offence.

The Minister noted that under the previous version of Section 12, “you could only forfeit property used for the commission of an offence, if the sentence was two years or more”.

“We’re reducing that timeframe by deleting the words ‘two years’ and replacing them with the words ‘one year’,” Mr. Green stated.

Regarding victim impact statements, the Minister informed that, for the first time, victims of praedial larceny will be able to present such statements during court proceedings.

“What [Section] 18a says is, where any person is convicted of any offence under this Act or any offence listed in the First Schedule, the court may, before the sentencing of the offender, consider a statement from the victim,” he explained.

“Our farmers have for long lobbied for this because, oftentimes, when there are going to be sentencings in these matters, our farmers want to have a say to be able to indicate the sort of damage that has been brought to bear on them,” Mr. Green added.

The Bill was also amended to empower the Minister to make regulations governing the form and manner in which victim impact statements are submitted.

The legislation will now go to the Senate for approval.