Abduction & Kidnapping Flashcards
Abduction
Crimes act 1961 Section 208 a-c
- Unlawfully
- Takes away or detains
- A person
- Without their consent or with consent obtained by fraud or duress
- With intent to:
(a) go through a form of marriage or civil union, or
(b) have sexual connection with the person, or
(c) cause the person to go through a form of marriage or civil union, or to have sexual connection, with some other person
Kidnapping
Crimes Act 1961 Section 209 a-c
- Unlawfully
- Takes away or detains
- A person
- Without their consent or with consent obtained by fraud or duress
- With intent to:
(a) hold him or her for ransom or to service, or
(b) cause him or her to be confined or imprisoned, or
(c) cause him or her to be sent or taken out of NZ
Abduction of a young person under 16
Section 210(1), Crimes Act 1961
- With intent to deprive a parent or guardian or other person having the lawful care or charge of a young person of the possession of the young person
- Unlawfully
- Takes or entices away or detains
- The young person
Abduction of a young person under 16 (receives)
Section 210(2), Crimes Act 1961
- Receives
- A young person
- Knowing that he or she has been unlawfully taken or enticed away or detained with intent to deprive a parent or guardian or other person having the lawful care or charge of him or her of the possession of him or her.
Unlawfully
without lawful justification or excuse.
Takes away
generally refers to situations where the victim is physically removed from one place to another.
R v Crossan
Taking away and detaining are “separate and distinct
offences”.
R v Wellard
The essence of the offence of kidnapping is the “deprivation
of liberty coupled with a carrying away from the place where
the victim wants to be”.
Detains
It involves doing something to impose a constraint or restraint on the person detained.
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.
Consent
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 in a position to form a rational judgement.
Consent obtained by fraud
deceive the victim into agreeing to a proposition by
misrepresenting the facts or their intentions.
Consent obtained by duress
acquiesce to an offender’s demands based on fear of the
consequences if they refuse.
Duress may arise from the actual or implied threat of force to
the victim or another person, but can also include other
forms of pressure or coercion.
SECTION 209A CRIMES ACT 1961
For the purposes of sections 208 and 209, a person under the
age of 16 years cannot consent to being taken away or
detained.
Intent to abduction cases
Marriage and sexual connection appear only as matters of
intent, and it is not necessary to prove that they actually
occurred or were even attempted.
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.
Ransom
A “ransom” is a sum of money demanded or paid for the
release of a person being held captive.
Confine
“Confining” a person can include restricting their movements
to within a geographical area, but also has a wider meaning
that includes curtailing their activity and exercising control and
influence over them.
Imprison
To “imprison” a person means to put them in prison, or to
confine them as if in prison. It has a narrower meaning than
“confine”
R v Chartland
“Whether the defendant may have had an innocent motive, or intended to interfere with possession for a very short period of time is beside the point”.
It is not necessary to prove the accused intended a permanent deprivation.
R v Forrest and Forrest
“The best evidence possible in the circumstances should be adduced by the prosecution in proof of [the victim’s] age”.
Entice
means to temp, persuade, or attract by arousing hope or desire
Immaterial that the child consents
It is immaterial that the child consents to or even instigates the departure, although a person “takes” a child only if his or her conduct is an effective cause of it.
receives
several people could jointly “receive” a young person for the purposes of liability under this provision
Consent of young person is no defence
Consent is not a defence when the person taken is under the age of 16 years.
For the purposes of Section 208 and 209, a person under the age of 16 years cannot consent to being taken away or detained.
