STANSFIELD COLLEGE CRIMINAL LAW Non-Fatal Offences 2013-2014
CRIMINAL LAW LECTURE 2005 A Q6 1 H hears a rumour that I, his partner, has been unfaithful to him. He grabs at her shoulder but she ducks and run out of the house and gets into her car, locking the door. However, the car would not start. H shouts at I saying that he will get an exe to break the window and goes into the garage. Just as he is returning, the car starts. Since it is in reverse gear, it shoots backwards, hitting the garage, and comes to a stop. I suffers a whiplash injury to her neck. J, a policeman, having heard the shouting, seen the axe, and seen I slumped in the driver s seat, yells out, Stop!. J races to get the axe from H. Running off, H throws the axe in the path of J, who trips over it and falls on the blade, causing a gash to his thigh. What offences H committed?
CRIMINAL LAW LECTURE S47 2 S47 OAPA 1861 - Whosoever shall be convicted upon an indictment of any assault occasioning actual bodily harm shall be liable... to be kept in penal servitude [to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 7 years] 1. Actual Bodily Harm 2. Caused normal rules 3. Assault
CRIMINAL LAW LECTURE S47 3 Actual bodily harm R v Miller (1954): ABH means any type of injury, however minor or temporary, which is calculated to interfere with the health and comfort of the victim. So what injuries amount to ABH? The CPS guidance incorporating the Offences Against the Person Charging Standards (1996) suggests that s.47 is appropriate for harm including: loss or breaking of tooth or teeth; temporary loss of sensory functions, which may include loss of consciousness; extensive or multiple bruising; displaced broken nose; minor fractures; minor, but not merely superficial, cuts of a sort probably requiring medical treatment (e.g. stitches).
CRIMINAL LAW LECTURE S47 4 Actual bodily harm R. v Hastie-Davies (Paul Kenneth): bruising to her face and body R. v Mills (Peter Mark): The officer was scalded over his face, neck and chest but was not left with residual scarring. R. v Jeffrey (Christopher Daniel) : black eye and bruising. DPP v K: Minor Burns DPP v T: causing the victim to be unconscious
CRIMINAL LAW LECTURE S47 5 Smith [2006]: Actual bodily harm He sat on top of her and cut off the pony tail at the back of her head, without her consent. victim had said that she was upset was a matter of emotion and ordinary distress, and could not amount to actual bodily harm as there was nothing to support any suggestion that she suffered psychiatric or psychological harm. prosecution submitted that pain was not a necessary ingredient of the offence, and that actual bodily harm might be occasioned to someone even if the victim had no sensation of it at the time. The respondent focused on the fact that, according to medical and scientific material, the shaft of the hair as opposed to the root was no more than dead tissue. What he had done therefore was to cut through dead tissue. Held, allowing the appeal, having regard to the dictionary definitions, in ordinary language harm was not limited to injury and extended to hurt or damage. Bodily whether used as an adjective or adverb, was concerned with the body. hair was an attribute and part of the human body. Substantial amount of hair like putting paint on it or some unpleasant substance which marked or damaged it without causing injury elsewhere, is actual bodily harm. so the fact that the hair will re-grow is irrelevant. Cresswell J. adds a short concurring judgment: to a woman her hair is a vitally important part of her body. Where a significant portion of a woman's hair is cut off without her consent, this is a serious matter amounting to actual (not trivial or insignificant) bodily harm.
CRIMINAL LAW LECTURE S47 6 Assault under s47 - Assault refer to assault or battery. If the element(ar & MR) of assault or battery is not made out, then no offence is committed under s47 -- Courtie (1984) - Refer to DDP v Little & s39 of CJA1988 - Definition of Assault: D intentionally or recklessly causes another to apprehend the application of immediate unlawful force. - Definition of Battery: D intentionally or reckless inflicts immediate unlawful force on another person.
CRIMINAL LAW LECTURE S18 & 20 7 Wounding or GBH - A wound is an injury which breaks the whole skin, whether the skin be external or internal such as on the inside of the mouth Eisenhower (1984) (Internal bleeding, broken bones, broken nose, fractures, abrasions does not amount to a wound) - GBH really serious bodily harm - DPP v Smith. However subsequent cases (Saunders [1985]; Janjua & Choudhury [1999]) have held that there is no need to include the word really. (A fractured limb, permanent disablement of the victim, broken arm, a fractured skull, or the rupturing of internal organs, a fracture of the skull of the victim) Metharam: serious interference with health & comfort of the victim will amount to GBH
s20 CRIMINAL LAW LECTURE S47 Whosoever shall unlawfully and maliciously wound or inflict any grievous bodily harm upon any other person, either with or without any weapon or instrument, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and being convicted thereof shall be liable... to be kept in penal servitude... [shall be guilty of an offence and liable, on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 7 years]. Wounding or GBH 8 s18 Whosoever shall unlawfully and maliciously by any means whatsoever wound or cause any grievous bodily harm to any person... with intent... to do some... grievous bodily harm to any person, or with intent to resist or prevent the lawful apprehension or detainer of any person, shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof shall be liable,... to be kept in penal servitude for life... 1. Wound or Inflict GBH 2. Malicious 1. Wound or Cause GBH 2. Intent to do GBH or Intent to resist or prevent arrest 3. Malicious
CRIMINAL LAW LECTURE S18 & 20 9 - R v Wilson (H/L) Inflict & Cause we have come to the conclusion that although the word inflicts does not have as wide a meaning as the word cause, the work inflicts does have a wider meaning than it would have if it were construed so that inflicting GBH always involved assaulting the victim. In our opinion, GBH may be inflicted either where the accused has directly and violently inflicted it by assaulting the victim, or where the accused has inflicted it by doing something, intentionally, which, though it is not in itself a direct application of force to the body of the victim, does directly result in force being applied violently to the body of the victim, so that he suffers GBH Effect of Wilson 1. Force must be applied Problem arose where GBH took the form of heart-attack, stroke, disease & psychiatric illness 2. Force must be applied directly
CRIMINAL LAW LECTURE S18 & 20 10 - Ireland & Burstow (H/L) Inflict & Cause The difference in language is not significant. In the context of the ACT of 1861, there is no radical divergence between the meaning of the two words.
CRIMINAL LAW LECTURE S18 & 20 11 S20 MR of s20 & 18 - Malicious was defined in Mowatt (1967) Intention to do some bodily harm or being reckless as to some bodily harm will be done (NOTE: not serious bodily harm) s18 - Intention to do gbh intention means purposive/direct intent and oblique intent) Bryson - Intention to resist or prevent arrest (Morrison[1989]) - Malicious as defined in Mowatt (1967) Note: General Intention is sufficient. Not required to show intention to cause a specific injury
CRIMINAL LAW LECTURE bodily harm 12 R v Chan Fook (1993) Non-physical injury as bodily harm S47, 20, s18 Mere emotions such as fear, distress, panic, anxiety & depression does not amount to bodily harm R v Ireland (telephone calls; psychiatric injury) Burstow (telephone calls, theft of washed clothes; severe depression, recognised clinical condition) Bodily harm in sections 18, 20 and 47 must be interpreted so as to include recognisable psychiatric illness. Psychological injury does not amount to psychiatric harm as confirmed by R v D (2006) so as not produce uncertain decision resulting from differing medical stand taken on psychological conditions.
CRIMINAL LAW LECTURE Racially or Religiously Aggravated Offence 13 Assault or Battery or S47 or S20 + At the time of committing the offence, or immediately before or after doing so, the offender demonstrate towards the victim hostility based on the victim s membership (or presumed membership) of a racial or religious group based on their membership of that group D will be liable under s29 Crime & Disorder Act 1998 as amended by the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2011 Read R v Rogers (2007) H/L
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