50. Damage to property of electricity licensee

Any person who wilfully removes, destroys or damages any electrical plant or electricity cable in the transmission network belonging to or under the management or control of an electricity licensee or hinders or prevents the electrical plant or electricity cable from being used or operated in the manner in which it is intended to be used or operated is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000, imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or both.

Notwithstanding subsection (I), any person who, in the course of carrying out any earthworks, damages or suffers to be damaged any high voltage electricity cable in the transmission network belonging to or under the management or control of an electricity licensee is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1 million, imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or both.

Where an offence under subsection (2) is committed by any person acting as the agent or servant of another person, or being otherwise subject to the supervision or instructions of another person for the purposes of any employment in the course of which the offence was committed, that other person shall, without prejudice to the liability of the first-mentioned person, be liable under that subsection in the same manner and to the same extent as if he had personally committed the offence unless he proves to the satisfaction of the court that the offence was committed without his consent or connivance or that it was not attributable to any neglect on his part.

Any person may apprehend any other person if the other person within his view commits an offence under this section and shall, on such apprehension without unreasonable delay, hand over the person so apprehended to a police officer.

In any proceedings for an offence under subsection (2), it shall be a defence for the person charged to prove that he took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of the offence.

In any proceedings for an offence under subsection (2), the defence involves acting on information supplied by a licensed cable detection worker, the person charged shall not. without leave of the court, be entitled to rely on that defence unless he has, within 14 clear days before the hearing, served on the prosecutor a notice in writing giving such information as was then in his possession identifying or assisting in the identification of the licensed cable detection worker.