An attempt is the last but one stage in the completion of a crime. It is a crime “almost” but not altogether complete. It is a stage at which crime fails to materialise as a result of factors outside the will and beyond the control of the offender.
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Abetment of an offence is done by a person other than the actual offender. Attempt is the act of the principal in the first degree, abetment of the act of the principal in the second degree and accessory before the fact.
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There are four stages in the commission of a crime—intention in suggestions or encouragement and its scope may be confined to the formation of an intention in the mind of an offender who may, independently of the abettor, prepare, attempt and even commit the crime.
Abetment is not actual participation in the acts constituting a crime; it is, auxiliary or ancillary to a crime while an attempt is the crime itself minus the last act necessary to complete it. An attempt may involve only a single individual, while abetment is not possible without at least two individuals —the abettor and the abetted. The offence of abetment may be complete even in the absence of the formation of an intention to commit a crime. It is complete notwithstanding that the person abetted refuses to do the act, he is encouraged to do. Abetment may be helpful to the commission of a crime but it stands outside it and is not a part and parcel thereof which an attempt is.