Britain’s trespass law applies in N.Z. also

Press, 27 October 1982, Page 21

Britain’s trespass law applies in N.Z. also

PA Timaru The British law that enabled Buckingham Palace intruder. Michael Fagan, to escape prosecution for trespass also applies in New Zealand and has caused some consternation, police and legal sources in Timaru have said.

F'agan entered the Palace without using force and without any intent to commit a crime, thus having an automatic defence to a charge of being on a property without a reasonable excuse. Under the Police Offences Act. 1927, it was an offence in New Zealand to be found on property without a lawful excuse but that legislation w’as repealed this year and replaced by the Summary Offences Act. 1981. The law now means that a person can go on to a propery to “sleep it off,” to take a short cut. or to urinate out of public view. It is also possible for a person to enter a house with-

out using force, walk through it, then leave and not be prosecuted, provided he had no intention of committing any crime.

Section 29 of the Summary Offences Act says that it is not for the prosecution to prove that a person charged with being found on property without reasonable excuse intended to commit an offence.

But if the person can satisfy the court that there was no such intention, the charge must be dismissed.

The police do have the power to arrest a person found in such circumstances if that person fails to leave the property after being warned to do so.

The same act makes it an offence to loiter by night on any land on which a house is situated. But the definition of loiter is to linger, hang about, or move with frequent pauses and cannot apply in many cases of an unwanted visitor.

The police have been told

that there is no point m prosecuting a person who has been found on property when it is clear there was no intention to commit any crime.