Robbery Flashcards
Explain Robbery Section 234
ROBBERY
Section 234 CA 61 - 10yrs
- Theft
- Accompanied by violence or threats of violenc
- To any person or property
- Used to extort the property stolen or to prevent or overcome resistance to its being stolen.
Explain Section 235 - Aggravated Robbery
Agg Robbery Sect 235(a) 14yrs
- Robs
- Any person
- At the time of
OR Immediately before OR
Immediately after - Causes GBH
- ## To any personAggravated Robbery Sect 235(b) 14yrs
- Being together with any other person/s
- Robs
- ## Any personAggravated Robbery Sect 235(c) 14yrs
- Being armed with any offensive weapon OR
Instrument OR
Anything appearing to be an offensive weapon or instrument - Robs
- Any person
Explain Assault with intent to Rob - Section 236
Assault with intent to Rob Sect 236(1)(a) 14yrs
- With intent to Rob any person
- Causes GBH
- ## To that person or any other personAssault with intent to Rob Sect 236(1)(b) 14yrs
- With intent to Rob
- Being armed with any offensive weapon OR Instrument OR
Anything appearing to be an offensive weapon or instrument - ## Assaults that person or any other personAssault with intent to Rob Sect 236(1)(c) 14yrs
- With intent to Rob any person
- Being together with any other person
- Assaults that person or any other person
Explain Demanding with intent to steal - Section 239
Where property has been demanded but the threat of violence is less immediate, a charge under s239 may be more appropriate *************************************** Demanding with intent to steal, Sect 239(1) - 14yrs
- Without claim of right
- By force or with any threat
- Compels any person to execute, make, accept, endorse, alter, or destroy
- Any document capable of conferring a pecuniary advantage
- With intent to obtain any benefit.
*************
Demanding with intent to steal,
Sect 239(2) - 7yrs - With menaces or by any threat
- Demands any property from any persons
- With intent to steal it.
Case Law
- What was held in R v Skivington
- R v Lapier
R v SKIVINGTON
“Larceny [or theft] is an ingredient of robbery, and if the honest belief that a man has a claim of right is a defence to larceny, then it negatives one of the ingredients in the offence of robbery, without proof of which the full offence is not made out.”
*************
R v LAPIER
Robbery is complete the instant the property is taken, even if possession by the thief is only momentary.
Case Law
- R v Maihi
- Peneha v Police
R v MAIHI
“It is implicit in ‘accompany’ that there must be a nexus (connection or link) between the act of stealing … and a threat of violence. Both must be present.” However the term “does not require that the act of stealing and the threat of violence be contemporaneous …”
*************
PENEHA v POLICE
It is sufficient that “the actions of the defendant forcibly interfere with personal freedom or amount to forcible powerful or violent action or motion producing a very marked or powerful effect tending to cause bodily injury or discomfort”.
Case Law
- R v Broughton
- R v Joyce
- R v Galey
R v BROUGHTON
A threat of violence is “the manifestation of an intention to inflict violence unless the money or property be handed over. The threat may be direct or veiled. It may be conveyed by words or conduct, or a combination of both.”
*********
R v JOYCE
The Crown must establish that at least two persons were physically present at the time the robbery was committed or the assault occurred.”
*********
R v GALEY
“Being together” in the context of s235(b) involves “two or more persons having the common intention to use their combined force, either in any event or as circumstances might require, directly in the perpetration of the crime.”
Explain Claim of right
A claim of right, in relation to any act, means a belief at the time of the act in a proprietary or possessory right in property in relation to which the offence is alleged to have been committed, although that belief may be based on ignorance or mistake of fact or of any matter of law other than the enactment against which the offence is alleged to have been committed
Explain ‘Being together with’
Being together with - There must be proof that, in committing the robbery, the defendant was part of a joint enterprise by two or more person who were physically present at the time of the robbery. In this case they were not physically together at the time of the robbery. They are both guilty of Robbery.
Definition -
- Theft
- Property
THEFT Section 219(1)(a)
Dishonestly and without claim of right, taking any property with intent to deprive any owner permanently of that property or of any interest in that property;
********
PROPERTY
Property includes real and personal property and any estate or interest in any real or personal property, [money, electricity] and any debt and any thing in action and any other right or interest.
Definition -
- Assault
- Intent (Robbery) (inferred)
ASSAULT
• intention to apply or attempt to apply force
• application or attempted application of force, whether directly or indirectly, or
• threat to apply force in circumstances where the victim believes the offender will be able to carry out the threat
********
INTENT (Robbery) (Inferred)
Definition -
- Violence
- Threat of Violence
VIOLENCE
The Courts have accepted that there is a “recognised gradation of violence from one end of a spectrum to the other”.
In the context of robbery, violence must involve more than a minimal degree of force and more than a technical assault, but need not involve the infliction of bodily injury.
********
THREAT OF VIOLENCE
A threat of violence is “the manifestation of an intention to inflict violence unless the money or property be handed over. The threat may be direct or veiled. It may be conveyed by words or conduct, or a combination of both.”
Definition -
- Extort
- Prevent
- Overcome
EXTORT
“to obtain by violence, coercion or intimidation or to extract forcibly.”
Extortion implies an overbearing of the will of the victim. Thus, if the threats have not in fact affected the will of the victim, there is no robbery.
*********
PREVENT
“to keep from happening”.
This provision applies when the offender anticipates resistance from the victim and uses violence or threats to ensure it does not start.
********
OVERCOME
To “overcome” means “to defeat; to prevail over; to get the better of in a conflict.”
Definition -
- Robs
- Causes
- Person
ROBS
ROBBERY is theft accompanied by violence or threats of violence, to any person or property, used to extort the property stolen or to prevent or overcome resistance to its being stolen.
********
CAUSES
In this context a person causes grievous bodily harm if his or her actions make him or her criminally responsible for it.
********
PERSON
Gender neutral, proven by circumstantial evidence
Definition -
- Causes GBH
- At the time
In this context a person causes grievous bodily harm if their actions make them criminally responsible for it.
********
AT THE TIME
This provision relates to situations where the violence used to extort the property stolen, or to prevent or overcome resistance has resulted in really serious harm to the person assaulted.
The violence resulting in the infliction of grievous bodily harm may also have been used for some collateral purpose, such as attempting to escape after the robbery.
