Section 150 bis: Tampering with a corpse or scene

Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section

1. Supreme Court Judgment No. 10278/2555 (2012)

   Dragging a body about thirty metres from the house out to a public road, even where that place could not conceal the death, is done to conceal the cause of death and to disguise the offender's own offence. The Supreme Court held the defendant guilty on that count under Penal Code Section 199 together with Section 150 bis paragraph two of this Code. Moving a corpse and acting on the surroundings where it is found in order to disguise the case is one act breaching several provisions, and the trial court punished it under Section 150 bis paragraph two as the heaviest of them under Penal Code Section 90.

   The defendant dragged the body to a public road about thirty metres from the house and admitted that charge from the outset. The trial court convicted under Penal Code Section 199 and Section 150 bis paragraph two of this Code, treating the conduct as one act breaching several provisions and punishing under Section 150 bis paragraph two as the heaviest of them under Penal Code Section 90. The Court of Appeal Region 4 dismissed that count. The Supreme Court disagreed: even though the place could not conceal the death, the act was done to conceal the cause of death and to disguise the defendant's own offence, and it restored the conviction under Penal Code Section 199 together with Section 150 bis paragraph two, leaving the trial court's sentence on that count to stand.

2. Supreme Court Judgment No. 20377/2555 (2012)

   Clearing away broken glass and motorcycle parts at the scene and throwing the motorcycle into an irrigation canal, all with the single intent of saving another from punishment and done on one occasion continuously, is one act breaching several laws. Punishment follows Penal Code section 184, jointly helping another to escape punishment by damaging, destroying, concealing, taking away or causing the loss of evidence, as the heaviest provision under Penal Code section 90.

   The second, third and fourth defendants cleared away broken glass and motorcycle parts from the scene of a collision between the motorcycle the deceased was riding and the first defendant's tractor, and the second defendant threw the motorcycle into an irrigation canal. The Supreme Court held these were one continuous act with one intent, to save the first defendant from punishment, and had to be punished under Penal Code section 184 as the heaviest provision. Being a question of public order it corrected the judgment of its own motion, and, the ground going to the nature of the case, extended the correction to the fourth defendant, who had not appealed.

Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.