The applicant was convicted for theft by servant by a subordinate court and made this application for leave to appeal.
It transpired that the corporation alleged to be the employer, a statutory corporation, had ceased to exist several years before the offence was committed. The employer was in fact the Government, which had taken over the undertaking.
Held:
(i) The offence of theft by servant has two ingredients: there must be actual theft of money and the money must be stolen from the employer.
(ii) Where the second ingredient has not been proved the accused can be convicted of simple theft which in relation to theft is a minor offence for the purposes of s. 181 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
(iii) A person cannot be convicted of theft by servant of property belonging to a corporation if the corporation had ceased to exist several years before the offence.
