Accessory After the Fact

Question 1

Accessory after the fact

Answer 1

Crimes Act 1961, Section 71
(1) An accessory after the fact to an offence is one who, knowing any person to have been a party to the offence, receives, comforts, or assists that person or tampers with or actively suppresses any evidence against him, in order to enable him to escape after arrest or to avoid arrest or conviction.

Question 2

Knowing any person to have been a party to an offence

Answer 2

R v Crooks
Knowledge means actual knowledge or belief in the sense of having no real doubt that the person assisted was a party to the relevant offence. Mere suspicion of their involvement in the offence is insufficient.

Question 3

Knowledge must exist at the time assistance given

Answer 3

At the time of the assistance being given, an accessory must possess the knowledge that:
- an offence has been committed, and
- the person they are assisting was a party (principal or secondary) to that offence

Question 4

Wilful blindness

Answer 4

R v Briggs
As with a receiving charge under s246(1), knowledge may also be inferred from wilful blindness or a deliberate abstention from making inquiries that would confirm the suspected truth.

A person is considered wulfully blind in only two situations, these being:
- where the person deliberately shuts their eyes and fails to inquire; this is becuase they knew what the answer would be, or
- in situations where the means of knowledge are easily at hand and the person realises the likely truth of the matter but refrains from inquiring in order not to know.

Question 5

Actus reus of an accessory after the fact

Answer 5

The accessory must do a deliberate intentional act with the purpose of assisting the person to evade justice in one of the three ways in s71(1) - escape after arrest, avoid arrest, or avoid conviction. They must also possess the knowldege.

The intentional acts are:
- receives
- comforts
- assists
- tampers with evidence
- actively suppresses evidence

Question 6

Offence must be complete

Answer 6

R v Mane
To be considered an accessory the acts done by the person must be after the completion of the offence.