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Aircraft Offences Act

LAWS OF TONGA

1988 Revised Edition

CHAPTER 153

AIRCRAFT OFFENCES ACT

Arrangement of Sections

Section
1. Short title.
2. Tongan controlled aircraft.
3. Functions of commander.
4. Force, violence etc.
5. Attempts, aids, abets, etc. offence.
6. Aircraft in flight.
7. Extradition crimes.
8. Firearm, explosive, etc.
9. Powers of constable.
10. Construing expressions.
11. Depositions.

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AIRCRAFT OFFENCES ACT

Acts 20 of 1977 and 13 of 1985

AN ACT TO GIVE EFFECT TO THE CONVENTION FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF UNLAWFUL SEIZURE OF AIRCRAFT AND THE CONVENTION FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF UNLAWFUL ACTS AGAINST THE SAFETY OF CIVIL AVIATION AND FOR CONNECTED PURPOSES

Commencement [31st May 1978]

1. Short title.

This Act may be cited as the Aircraft Offences Act.

2. Tongan controlled aircraft.

(1) Any act or omission taking place on board a Tongan controlled aircraft while in flight elsewhere than in and over Tonga which, if taking place in Tonga would constitute an offence under the law in force in Tonga shall constitute that offence, provided however that the act is not expressly or impliedly authorised by or under that law when taking place outside Tonga.

(2) A "Tongan controlled aircraft" means an aircraft which is registered in Tonga or which, whether or not registered in any country, is operated by or owned by a person who is a citizen of Tonga.

3. Functions of commander.

(1) The provisions of subsections (2) to (4) of this section shall have effect for the purposes of any proceedings before any court in Tonga.

(2) If the commander 6f an aircraft in flight, wherever that aircraft may be, has reasonable grounds to believe in respect of any person on board the aircraft:

(a) that the person in question has done or is about to do any act on the aircraft while it is in flight which jeopardise or may jeopardise:

(i) the safety of the aircraft or of persons or property on board the aircraft; or

(ii) good order and discipline on board the aircraft; or

(b) that the person in question has done on the aircraft while in flight any act which in the opinion of the commander is a serious offence under any law in force in the country in which the aircraft is registered not being a law of a political nature or based on racial or religious discrimination, then, subject to subsection (4) of this section, the commander may take with respect to that person such reasonable measures, including restraint of his person, as may be necessary:

(i) to protect the safety of the aircraft or of persons or property on board the aircraft;

(ii) to maintain good order and discipline on board the aircraft; or

(iii) to enable the commander to disembark or deliver that person in accordance with subsection (4) of the section; and for the purposes of paragraph (b) of this subsection a Tongan controlled aircraft shall be deemed to be registered in Tonga whether or not it is in fact so registered and whether or not it is in fact registered in some other country.

(3) Any member of the crew of an aircraft and any other person on board the aircraft may, at the request or with the authority of the commander of the aircraft, and any such member shall if so required by that commander, render assistance in restraining any person whom the commander is entitled under subsection (2) of this section to restrain; and at any time when the aircraft is in flight any such member or other person may; without obtaining the authority of the commander, take with respect to any person on board the aircraft any measures such as are mentioned in the said subsection (2) which he has reasonable grounds to believe are immediately necessary to protect the safety of the aircraft or of persons or property on board the aircraft.

(4) Any restraint imposed on any person on board an aircraft under the powers conferred by the foregoing provisions of this section shall not be continued after the time when the aircraft first thereafter ceases to be in flight unless before or as soon as is reasonably practicable after that time the commander of the aircraft causes notification of the fact that a person on board the aircraft is under restraint and of the reasons therefore to be sent to an appropriate authority of the country in which the aircraft so ceases to be in flight; subject to such notification such restraint may be continued for any period (including the period of any further flight) thereafter until the first occasion on which the commander is able within the requisite consent of the appropriate authorities to disembark or deliver the person under restraint to the competent authorities.

4. Force, violence etc.

A person commits an offence who unlawfully:

(a) on board an aircraft in flight, by the use of force or threats of any kind, seizes the aircraft or exercises control of it;

(b) on board an aircraft in flight commits any act of violence which is likely to endanger the safety in flight;

(c) whether or not on board an aircraft whether it is in flight or not destroys an aircraft in service or so damages it as to render it incapable of flight or as to be likely to endanger its safety in flight;

(d) places or causes to be placed on an aircraft in service any device or substance which is likely to destroy the aircraft, or is likely so to damage it as to render it incapable of flight or as be likely to endanger its safety in flight;

(e) destroys or damages any property or interferes with the operation of any such property in circumstances where the destruction, damage or interference is likely to endanger the safety of aircraft in flight including any property used for purposes of air navigation;

(f) communicates any information which is misleading or deceptive in a material particular, where the communication of the information endangers the safety of an aircraft in flight or is likely to endanger the safety of the aircraft in flight, provided that it shall be a defence for a person charged under this subsection to prove that he believed and had reasonable grounds for believing that the information was true, or that when he communicated the information he was lawfully employed to perform duties which consisted of or included the communication of information and that he communicated the information in good faith in the performance of those duties.

(2) Except as provided in paragraph (3), this section applies whether such act is committed in Tonga or elsewhere, whatever the nationality of the person committing the act and whatever the State in which the aircraft is registered.

(3) The provisions of this section shall not apply in the case where the aircraft is used in military, customs or police service, or both the place of take-off and the place of landing are in the territory of the State in which the aircraft is registered unless the person acting as described in section 4 is a citizen of Tonga or his act is committed in Tonga or the aircraft is registered in Tonga.

5. Attempts, aids, abets, etc. offence.

A person who commits or attempts to commit an offence under section 4 or who in Tonga aids, abets, induces or assists in the commission or attempted commission of an offence under section 4 shall be liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for life.

6. Aircraft in flight.

For the purposes of section 4 the period during which an aircraft is in flight shall be deemed to include any period from the moment when all its external doors are closed following embarkation until the moment when any such door is opened for disembarkation, and, in the case of a forced landing, any period until the competent authorities take over responsibility for the aircraft and for persons and property on board.

7. Extradition crimes.

The offences under sections 4 and 5 shall be deemed to be included in the list of extradition crimes contained in Schedule 1 to the Extradition Act for which extradition may be ordered by the Supreme Court upon prima facie evidence of their commission whether or not there is an extradition treaty in force between Tonga and a country seeking the extradition of an offender and whether or not such country has been designated by an Order-in-Council under section 4(1) of the Extradition Act.

(2) A request for extradition under this section may be made to Government by requisition to the Prime Minister who may direct the Solicitor-General to take proceedings against the offender for his extradition. (Amended by Act 13 of 1985.)

8. Firearm, explosive, etc.

(1) It shall be an offence for any person without lawful authority or reasonable excuse (proof of which shall lie on him) to have with him:

(a) in any aircraft registered in Tonga, whether at a time when the aircraft is in Tonga or not, or

(b) in any other aircraft at a time which it is in, or in flight over, the Kingdom of Tonga, or

(c) in any part of an aerodrome in Tonga, or

(d) in any air navigation installation in Tonga which does not form part of an aerodrome,

any article to which this section applies.

(2) This section applies to the following articles, that is to say:

(a) any firearm, or any article having the appearance of being a firearm, whether capable of being discharged or not;

(b) any explosive, any article manufactured or adapted (whether in the form of a bomb, grenade or otherwise) so as to have the appearance of being an explosive, whether it is capable of producing a practical effect by explosion or not, or any article marked or labelled so as to indicate that it is or contains an explosive; and

(c) any article (not falling within either of the preceding paragraphs) made or adapted for use for causing injury to or incapacitating a person or for destroying or damaging property, or intended by the person having it with him for such use, whether by him or by any other person.

(3) For the purposes of this section a person who is for the time being in an aircraft, or in part of an aerodrome, shall be treated as having with him in the aircraft, or in that part of the aerodrome, as the case may be, an article to which this section applies if:

(a) where he is in an aircraft, the article, or an article in which it is contained, is in the aircraft and has been caused (whether by him or by any other person) to be brought there as being, or as forming part of, his baggage on a flight in the aircraft or has been caused by him to be brought there as being, or as forming part of, any other property to be carded on such a flight; or

(b) where he is in part of an aerodrome (otherwise than in an aircraft), the article, or an article in which it is contained, is in that or any other part of the aerodrome and has been caused (whether by him or by any other person) to be brought into the aerodrome as being, or as forming part of, his baggage on a flight from that aerodrome or has been caused by him to be brought there as being, or as forming part of, any other property to be carried on such a flight on which he is also to be carried,

notwithstanding that the circumstances may be such that (apart from this subsection) he would not be regarded as having the article with him in the aircraft or in a part of the aerodrome, as the case may be.

(4) Nothing in subsection (3) of this section shall be construed as limiting the circumstances in which a person would, apart from that subsection, be regarded as having an article with him as mentioned in subsection (1) of this section.

(5) Any person who commits an offence under this section shall be liable on conviction to imprisonment for 5 years.

9. Powers of constable.

(1) Where a constable has reasonable cause to suspect that a person about to embark on an aircraft in Tonga, or a person on board such an aircraft, intends to commit, in relation to the aircraft, an offence under this Act, the constable may prohibit him from travelling on board the aircraft; and for the purpose of enforcing that prohibition the constable:

(a) may prevent him for embarking on the aircraft or, as the case may be, may remove him from the aircraft, and

(b) may arrest him without warrant and detain him for so long as may be necessary for that purpose.

(2) If a constable has reasonable cause to suspect that an article to which section 8 of this Act applies is in, or may be brought into, any part of the aerodrome, he may, by virtue of this subsection and without a warrant, search any part of the aerodrome or any aircraft, vehicle, goods or other movable property of any description which, or any person who, is for the time being in any part of the aerodrome, and for that purpose:

(a) may enter any building or works in the aerodrome, or enter upon any land in the aerodrome, if need be by force; and

(b) may stop any such aircraft, vehicle, goods, property or person and detain it or him for so long as may be necessary for that purpose.

10. Construing expressions.

(1) Any reference in this Act to an aircraft in flight shall include a reference to an aircraft during any period when it is on the surface of the sea or land but not within the territorial sea of any country.

(2) In this Act, except where the context otherwise requires any reference to a country shall be construed as including a reference to the territorial waters of that country.

11. Depositions.

Where in any proceedings before a court in Tonga for an offence committed on board an aircraft the testimony of any person is required and the court is satisfied that the person is in question cannot be found in Tonga, there shall be admissible in evidence before that case any deposition relating to the subject matter of those proceedings previously made on oath by that person outside Tonga which was so made:

(a) in the presence of the person charged with the offence, and

(b) before a judge or magistrate of any country or any diplomatic or consular officer of Tonga.

(2) Any such deposition shall be authenticated by the signature of the judge, magistrate or diplomatic or consular officer before whom it was made who shall certify that the person charged with the offence was present at the taking of the deposition.

(3) It shall not be necessary in any proceedings to prove the signature or official character of the person appearing so to have authenticated any such deposition or to have given such a certificate, and such a certificate shall, unless the contrary is proved, be sufficient evidence in any proceedings that the person charged with the offence was present at the making of the deposition.

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