Accessory After the Fact

Question 1

Legislation

Answer 1

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”- CASE LAW

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

R v Briggs - CASELAW

Answer 3

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.

Question 4

What Knowledge must exist at the time assistance given

Answer 4

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 5

Offence must be complete - CASE LAW

Answer 5

R v Mane

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

Question 6

Receiving or comforting (not defined) - Two examples

Answer 6

Harbouring an offender or offering them shelter can be considered receiving and/or comforting, eg hiding a prison escapee in a basement.

Comforting encompasses situations where an accessory provides an offender with things such as food and clothing.

Question 7

Assisting (not defined) - Two examples

Answer 7

To assist covers a significant number of situations: providing transport, acting as a look out, providing advice

Question 8

To evade justice - definition

Answer 8

The act or acts done by the accessory must have helped the other person in some way to evade justice.

Question 9

Actively
suppresses
evidence

Answer 9

Actively suppressing evidence encompasses acts of concealing or destroying
evidence against an offender.

Question 10

Tampers with evidence

Answer 10

Tampers means to alter the evidence against the offender

Question 11

An accessory’s intent must be..

Answer 11

to enable the offender to either:
• escape after arrest
• avoid arrest
• avoid conviction.

Question 12

Proof of principle offender

Answer 12

An accessory after the fact is entitled to insist on proof that the alleged offence was committed and to challenge that proof, despite any guilty plea entered or conviction recorded against the
principal offender.