Victim Compensation Orders Granted under Section 359 of Criminal Procedure Code

Ms Sylvia Lim asked the Minister for Law (a) how many victim compensation orders have been granted by the courts under section 359 of the Criminal Procedure Code in 2014 and 2015 respectively; (b) whether the courts have made any orders of compensation against the prosecution or informant for frivolous or vexatious prosecutions under section 359(3); and (c) what is the range of compensation amounts awarded and for what types of offences.

Mr K Shanmugam: Section 359 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) allows for claims for compensation in criminal proceedings and makes it mandatory for a court convicting a person of any offence to consider whether a compensation order should be made, and the court will make such compensation orders where appropriate. The number of victim compensation orders that were granted by the Courts under section 359 of the CPC in 2014 and 2015 can be found in the following Table:

Of the compensation orders made in 2014 and 2015, 84% were made in relation to cases involving hurt, mischief, theft, cheating and criminal breach of trust. In 75% of all instances where compensation orders were made, the compensation amounts were less than $2,000. In the remaining instances, the compensation amounts were between $2,000 and $10,000, with one compensation order amounting to $57,000 (rounded) for a charge of criminal breach of trust.

The State Courts tracks the total number of compensation orders made under section 359 of the CPC. No breakdown is available on the number of orders made under the different sub-sections in that provision.