(1)Except as provided in this section and in section 86, intoxication shall not constitute a defence to any criminal charge.
Section history
Section 85 — Intoxication when a defence
As in force on 1 April 2022.
Timeline 4 versions
- 30 March 1987 Enacted
- 1 January 2020 Act 15 of 2019
- 1 March 2022 Act 23 of 2021
- 1 April 2022 You are here
- 17 August 2026 Latest
(2)Intoxication is a defence to any criminal charge if by reason of the intoxication the person charged, at the time of the act or omission complained of —
(a)did not know what he was doing; or
(b)did not know that such act or omission was wrong,
and the state of intoxication was caused without the knowledge or against the will of the person charged with the offence.
(2A)Subsection (2)(b) only applies if the person charged, at the time of the act or omission complained of, did not know that the act or omission —
(a)was wrong by the ordinary standards of reasonable and honest persons; and
(b)was wrong as contrary to law.
(3)Intoxication is a defence to any criminal charge if by reason of the intoxication the person charged was of unsound mind as determined in accordance with section 84.