Offences against the person

Question 1

What are examples of Summary Offences?

Answer 1

Assault, Battery.

Question 2

What are examples of either way offences?

Answer 2

Malicious wounding, inflicting GBH

Question 3

What are examples of indictable only offences?

Answer 3

Wounding or causing ABH with intent, Maliciously administering poison with intent to injure, aggrieve or annoy, poison (again) with intent to endanger life or inflict GBH.

Question 4

What is assault?

Answer 4

“Any act which intentionally - or… recklessly- causes another person to apprehend immediate and unlawful violence” - Fagan v Metropolitan Police Commissioner (1969)

Question 5

What are the different forms of apprehension?

Answer 5

1) Logdon v DPP (1976) - fear of violence through a threat to kidnap.
2) Ireland; Burstow (1998) - assault by silent phone calls.
3) Smith v superintendent of woking police station (1983) - apprehension must be of immediate violence.

Question 6

What is the actus reus of Battery?

Answer 6

The infliction of unlawful force on another person.

Question 7

What is the degree of force needed for battery?

Answer 7

Very slight - Faulkner v Talbot (1981). No harm is necessary.
However consent to battery exists - Collins v Wilcock (1984). “physical contacts of ordinary life are not actionable”

Question 8

What are examples of Indirect application of force for Battery?

Answer 8

Martin (1881-2) - D ran out of theatre, turned off lights and barred the exit

Haystead v CC of Derbyshire (2000) - D punched woman holding baby, baby dropped & hit head. Held battery available in these situations.

Question 9

What is the mens rea of Battery?

Answer 9

D’s act must be intentional or reckless - must have intended or foreseen the use of force.

Question 10

What is Assault occasioning ABH?

Answer 10

Charged under s.47 OAPA 1861,
1) actus reus and mens rea of either assault or battery
2) causation (factual and legal) (Roberts (1972))
3) ABH - “any hurt or injury calculated to interfere with health or comfort” - Miller (1954)
ABH includes mental health, but not things like fear stress or panic - Morris (1998)

Question 11

What does DPP v Smith (2006) show?

Answer 11

Held that cutting off a part of someone’s hair without consent amounted to ABH

Question 12

What is the mens rea of assault occasioning ABH?

Answer 12

only needs the intention to cause harm OR intention to cause V to apprehend immediate unlawful violence.

Question 13

What is the actus reus of Maliciously wounding or inflicting GBH?

Answer 13

Charged under s.20 OAPA (1861)
D wounding V or D inflicting GBH on V.

Question 14

What is Wounding?

Answer 14

Skin must be broken - Moriarty v Brooks (1834), both layers - M’Loughlin (1838)
A scratch is insufficient - R v Beckett (1836)
A bruise or internal rupturing of blood vessels is not sufficient - C v Eisenhower (1984)

Question 15

What is GBH?

Answer 15

harm which is “serious” - Saunders (1985)
Examples include:
Injury resulting in permanent injury
Visible disfigurement
Broken bones/fractures

Question 16

What is the Mens Rea for GBH?

Answer 16

Must be malicious (intentionally or recklessly)

Question 17

What do Dica (2004) and Konzani (2005) show?

Answer 17

That transferring HIV is GBH when lacking the informed consent of the victim.

Question 18

What is the difference between s.18 and s.20 of the OAPA 1861?

Answer 18

S.18 requires the D to cause GBH, s.20 only requires GBH to be inflicted. Under s.18, recklessness is not enough, D must intend to cause GBH or resist lawful arrest.

Question 19

What do the cases of R v Brown 1994 and Donovan (1934) show?

Answer 19

That you cannot consent to ABH or GBH in the setting of sadomasochism.

Question 20

What does Barnes (2004) show?

Answer 20

D broke V’s leg in a football game. Charged under s.20. CA held that criminal proceedings in relation to sports should be saved for sufficiently serious conduct under these circumstances ;
1) the sport being played
2) the nature of the conduct
3) whether it happened outside of play
4) degree of force used
5) the injury sustained
6) the state of mind of D

Question 21

When can you consent to ABH/GBH?

Answer 21

Tattooing - Wilson (1997)
However, R v BM [2018] EWCA Crim 560 - a tattoer and body artist provided body modifications without a medical degree - amounted to s.18 offence.

Question 22

What are the parameters of consent>?

Answer 22

Consent must be freely given, and is invalid if it is obtained by fraud as to the identity of D (but not if they lie about their qualifications) (Richardson 1998) , or fraud as to the nature and quality of the act.