Abduction & Kidnapping

Question 1

Abduction

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Kidnapping

Answer 2

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

Question 3

Abduction of a young person under 16

Answer 3

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

Question 4

Abduction of a young person under 16 (receives)

Answer 4

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.

Question 5

Unlawfully

Answer 5

without lawful justification or excuse.

Question 6

Takes away

Answer 6

generally refers to situations where the victim is physically removed from one place to another.

Question 7

R v Crossan

Answer 7

Taking away and detaining are “separate and distinct
offences”.

Question 8

R v Wellard

Answer 8

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”.

Question 9

Detains

Answer 9

It involves doing something to impose a constraint or restraint on the person detained.

Question 10

R v Pryce

Answer 10

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.

Question 11

Consent

Answer 11

A persons conscious and voluntary agreement to something desired or proposed by another.

Question 12

R v Cox

Answer 12

Consent must be full, voluntary free and informed… freely and voluntarily given by a person in a position to form a rational judgement.

Question 13

Consent obtained by fraud

Answer 13

deceive the victim into agreeing to a proposition by
misrepresenting the facts or their intentions.

Question 14

Consent obtained by duress

Answer 14

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.

Question 15

SECTION 209A CRIMES ACT 1961

Answer 15

For the purposes of sections 208 and 209, a person under the
age of 16 years cannot consent to being taken away or
detained.

Question 16

Intent to abduction cases

Answer 16

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.

Question 17

R V MOHI

Answer 17

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.

Question 18

Ransom

Answer 18

A “ransom” is a sum of money demanded or paid for the
release of a person being held captive.

Question 19

Confine

Answer 19

“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.

Question 20

Imprison

Answer 20

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”

Question 21

R v Chartland

Answer 21

“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.

Question 22

R v Forrest and Forrest

Answer 22

“The best evidence possible in the circumstances should be adduced by the prosecution in proof of [the victim’s] age”.

Question 23

Entice

Answer 23

means to temp, persuade, or attract by arousing hope or desire

Question 24

Immaterial that the child consents

Answer 24

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.

Question 25

receives

Answer 25

several people could jointly “receive” a young person for the purposes of liability under this provision

Question 26

Consent of young person is no defence

Answer 26

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.