PART I-GENERAL PROVISIONS
CHAPTER IV
GENERAL RULES AS TO CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY
16. Defence of duress or coercion
(1) Except as provided in this section, a person shall not be guilty of an offence if he does or omits to do any act under duress or coercion.
(2) For the purpose of this section a person shall be regarded as having done or omitted to do any act under duress if he was induced to do or omit to do the act by any threat of death or grievous harm to himself or another and if at the time when he did or omitted to do the act he believed (whether or not on reasonable grounds)-
(a) that the harm threatened was death or grievous injury ;
(b) that the threat would be carried out-
(i) immediately ; or
(ii) before he could have any real opportunity to seek official protection, if he did not do or omit to do the act in question ; and
(c) that there was no way of avoiding or preventing the harm threatened.
(3) In this section "official protection" means the protection of the police or any authority managing any prison or other custodial institution, or any other authority concerned with the maintenance of law and order.
(As amended by Act No. 13 of 1990)
1. In addition to other grounds for excluding criminal responsibility provided for in this Statute, a person shall not be criminally responsible if, at the time of that person's conduct:
(d) The conduct which is alleged to constitute a crime within the jurisdiction of the Court has been caused by duress resulting from a threat of imminent death or of continuing or imminent serious bodily harm against that person or another person, and the person acts necessarily and reasonably to avoid this threat, provided that the person does not intend to cause a greater harm than the one sought to be avoided. Such a threat may either be:
(i) Made by other persons; or
(ii) Constituted by other circumstances beyond that person's control.