Commentary on Sections Subsections (3) and (4) – ability to convict of a different statutory offence
13.Subsection (3) applies where proceedings have begun for a 2012 Act offence but have not been determined by the time of the repeal. Existing legislation allows for the amendment of charges, so as to substitute a charge under the 2012 Act for a different statutory or common law offence, prior to the determination of a case. A court also has a power to convict a person charged under any enactment of a common law offence, where the facts proved amount to that common law offence. The courts have no general power to convict a person charged under an enactment of a different statutory offence.  Subsection (3), read with (4), addresses this in relation to proceedings for a 2012 Act offence, allowing the court to convict the person of a different statutory offence if the facts proved in the proceedings amount to that different offence.