Section 17

Any person who acts in contravention of any of the provisions of this Act or of any rule or order made thereunder, shall except in so far as his act comes within one of the exemptions made under sections 7 and 8, is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine of $8,000 or, in default of payment, imprisonment for 6 months:

Poisons

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Provided that if the act or omission charged amounts, in the opinion of the court before which he is tried, to such a degree of negligence as to endanger or be likely to endanger, human life, then such person is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine of $16,000 and imprisonment for 12 months.

Any person who would have been guilty of an offence against the provisions of this Act or of any rule or order made thereunder if anything had been done or omitted by him personally is guilty of such offence and liable to the same penalty if such thing had been done or omitted by his partner, agent or servant, unless he proves to the satisfaction of the court that he took all reasonable precautions to prevent the doing or omission of such thing; but so that nothing in this subsection shall affect the liability of such partner, agent or servant, and provided that the liability of such person shall not extend to imprisonment unless he is privy to the offence.

Where any person convicted of an offence against the provisions of this Act or of any rule or order made thereunder is a body corporate, every person who, at the time of commission of the offence, was a director, manager, secretary or other officer of the body corporate, or was purporting to act in any such capacity, shall be deemed to be guilty of that offence unless he proves that the offence was committed without his knowledge, or that he exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of the offence.

Any poison in respect of which an offence has been committed by any unlicensed person in contravention of any provision of this Act or of any rule or order made thereunder shall, upon that person being convicted of the offence, be forfeited and shall be handed over to the Director-General of Medical Services for disposal.

Every penalty or forfeiture imposed under this Act shall be in addition to and not in substitution for any other penalty to which the accused may be liable under any other law and no conviction under this Act shall be pleaded in any civil proceedings in mitigation of damages claimed against the person convicted.

Jurisdiction.