Abduction and Kidnapping Flashcards
Abduction
Section and Penalty
Section 208 (a) or (b) or (c) Crimes Act 1961
14 years imprisonment
Abduction
Ingredients
1) Unlawfully
2) Takes away or Detains
3) A Person
4) Without his or her consent
OR
With his or her consent obtained by fraud or duress
5) With Intent to:
a) marry him or her or
b) have sexual connection with him or her or
c) cause him or her to be married to or to have sexual connection with some other person
Unlawfully
Without lawful justification, authority or excuse
R v Crossan
Taking away and detaining are “separate and distinct offences. The first consists of taking the victim away. The second of detaining them.
R v Crossan
Takes Away
R v Wellard
The essence of the offence of kidnapping is the deprivation of liberty coupled with carrying away from the place where the victim wants to be.
Detaining
R v Pryce
Detaining is an active concept meaning to keep in confinement or custody. This is to be contrasted to the passive concept of harbouring or mere failure to hand over.
Person
Gender neutral proven by judicial notice or circumstantial evidence.
Consent
And
R v Cox
Consent is a persons conscious and voluntary agreement to something desired or proposed by another.
R v Cox
Consent must be full, voluntary, free and informed. Freely and voluntarily given by a person to form a rational judgement.
To Obtain Consent by FRAUD
Consent obtained by the misrepresentation of the facts or the offenders intentions.
To obtain consent by DURESS
Actual or implied threat of force to the victim or another person. Can include other forms of pressure or coercion.
Child under 16
Section 209A Crimes Act 1961
For the purposes of S208 and S209, a person under the age of 16 years cannot consent to being taken away or detained.
Intent
In a criminal law context there are two specific types of an intention in an offence. Firstly there must be an intention to commit the act and secondly an intention to get a specific result.
R v Mohi
The offence is committed at the time of taking away, so long as there is, at that moment, the necessary intent. It has never been regarded as necessary… that the crown should show the intent was carried out.
a) Marry him or her
In this context, “to marry” means to engage in a marriage solemnised in accordance with the provisions of the Marriage Act 1955.
b) Have Sexual Connection With Him or her
Sexual Connection - Sec 2 Crimes Act 1961
(a) connection effected by the introduction into the genitalia or anus of one person, otherwise than for genuine medical purposes, of-
(i) a part of the body of another person; or
(ii) an object held or manipulated by another person; or
(b) connection between the mouth or tongue of one person and a part of another person’s genitalia or anus; or
(c) the continuation of connection of a kind described in paragraph (a) or paragraph (b).