Accessory After The Fact Flashcards
Accessory after the fact
4 things To prove… mens rea of the offence is that the accessory has knowledge that the person assisted was a party to an offence, and that the accessory must have assisted with the purpose of allowing the offender to escape and avoid arrest or conviction.
Actus rea - Receives, Comforts or Assists that person OR tampers with or actively suppresses
Original Offence must be complete (R v Mane)
Knowing or correctly believing (Simester and Brookbanks)
Actual knowledge or belief, mere suspicion is insufficient (R v Crooks)
Accessory after the fact
Liability
Crimes Act 1961, s 71(1)
- Knowing any person to be a party to an offence
- Receives, Comforts or Assists that person OR tampers with or actively suppresses any evidence against him or her
- In order to enable him or her to escape after arrest OR to avoid arrest or conviction
Knowing
The accused must have knowledge that the person that they are being an accessory to was party to an offence at the time of assisting them.
R v Crooks - knowledge
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
Simester and Brookbanks - knowing
Knowing means “knowing or correctly believing” … the belief must be a correct one, where the belief is wrong g a person cannot know something.
R v Briggs - knowledge
Knowledge may also be inferred from willful business or a deliberate abstention from making inquiries that would confirm the suspected truth
Party - s66(1), Crimes Act 1961
Defined as being anyone who:
- commits the offence
- does or omits an act for the purpose of aiding any person to commit the offence
- abets any person in the commission of the offence
- incites, counsels, or procures any person to commit the offence
Party to v accessory after
Party - must have occured before or during (contemporaneous eith) the commission of the offence and completion of offence. Must Intentionally help or encourage.
Accessory- assistance provided to principal or secondary offender following the offence. Have not actively taken part
Receives/Comforts or Assists
The accused does a deliberate act for the purist of assisting the person to evade justice. The act done must actually help the person in some way
Tampers with/ Actively suppresses Evidence
Must fo a deliberate act in relation to evidence against the offender for the purpose of assisting the person to evade justice. The act must actually help the person.
R v Mane
To be considered an accessory thr acts done by the person must be after the completion of the offence.
Note:
The act must have specifically assisted the offender after they had been arrested.
OR
All acts must be done by accused with the Express intention that the person evades justice either by avoiding arrest or conviction
Conspiracy
CA 61, s310(1)
Crown must prove:
- Agreement
- Between two or more people
- To do an unlawful act/omission
- With intent at the time of agreement
Offence is complete on the agreement being made with the required intent.
Attempts
CA 6, s72
An intention to commit an offence and does/omits an act for the purpose of accomplishing their objective, whether its possible to commit the offence or not.
Must prove:
- Intent (men’s rea) - to commit offence
- Act (actus reus) - they did or omitted something to achieve that end
- Proximity - their act or omission was sufficiently close
A question of Fact
Whether or not Intent exists or not is a question of fact; a question that the jury decides.
A question of Law
Proximity is a question of law; it is a question that is decided by the judge based on the assumption that the facts of the case are proved.
