Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 1973

Amendment of charge where accused charged with indictable offence waives preliminary examination or is sent forward for sentence.

2.—Where—

(a) under section 12 of the Criminal Procedure Act, 1967 , an accused person waives the preliminary examination provided for by Part II of that Act and is sent forward for trial on any charge with a plea of not guilty,

or

(b) under section 13 (2) of that Act, an accused person is sent forward for sentence on any charge with a plea of guilty,

any defect in the charge may be corrected—

(i) in a case to which paragraph (a) applies—in stating the charge in the indictment, and

(ii) in a case to which paragraph (b) applies—by the court to which he has been sent forward, and his plea of guilty shall be treated as a plea of guilty to the charge as so corrected,

provided, in either case, that such correction would not, in the opinion of the court, result in injustice.