Accessory After the Fact

Question 1

Accessory after the fact
Section and Penalty

Answer 1

S71(1) CA61

Penalty (S312)
7 years (for life imprisonment offences)
5 years (for offences imprisonable by 10years+ )
1/2 penalty (of the offence if less than 10 years)

Question 2

Accessory after the fact
Elements

Answer 2

1) Knowing any person to be a party to an offence

2) Receives, comforts or assists that person
OR
Tampers with or actively suppresses any evidence against him or her

3) In order to enable him or her to escape after arrest
OR
to avoid arrest or conviction.

Question 3

Define:
Knowledge

Answer 3

Simester and Brookbanks: Principles of Criminal Law

Knowing means knowing or correctly believing. The defendant may believe something wrongly but can not know something that is false.

Question 4

R v Crooks

(Knowledge)

Answer 4

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 5

R v Briggs

(Wilful Blindness)

Answer 5

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 6

When would a person be considered wilfully blind?

Answer 6

A person is considered wilfully blind in only two situations, these being:

• where the person deliberately shuts their eyes and fails to inquire; this is because they knew what the answer would be, or
• in situations where the means of knowledge are easily at hand and the person realises the likely truth of the matter but refrains from inquiring in order not to know.

Question 7

What knowledge must an accessory possess

Answer 7

At the time of the assistance given, must have knowledge that:
1) an offence has been committed, and
2) the person they are assisting was a party (principal or secondary) to that offence.

Question 8

R v Mane

Offence must be complete

Answer 8

R v Mane

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

Question 9

What is the actus reus of being an accessory after the fact?

Answer 9

• Receives
• Comforts
• Assists
• Tampers with evidence
• Actively suppresses evidence

Question 10

Definition/example: Receives

Answer 10

Receives:
Refers to harbouring an offender or offering them shelter can be considered receiving and/or comforting, eg hiding a prison escapee in a basement.

Question 11

Definition/example: Comforts

Answer 11

Comforts:
Refers to providing food, clothing, shelter, accommodation, or other supplies to an offender.

Question 12

Definition/example: Assists

Answer 12

Assists:
Refers to providing transport, acting as a look out, identifying someone willing to purchase stolen property as a receiver and deliberately providing authorities with false information as to an offender’s whereabouts. Giving advice, information, material or services to the offender is also captured.

Question 13

Definition/example: Tampers with

Answer 13

Tampers means to alter the evidence against the offender.

Example:
Modifying an offender’s telephone records to conceal communications that might implicate them.

Question 14

Definition/example: actively suppresses evidence

Answer 14

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

Example:
Bloodied clothing is washed repeatedly to remove evidence or it is set alight to destroy the clothing.

Question 15

Indirect Assistance

Answer 15

There is no requirement that the offender (person A) is directly assisted by the accessory (person B).

Example:
Person A commits an offence and is assisted directly by another accessory (person C). Person B assists person C directly, but does not directly assist person A. Despite this distance, person B is still an accessory after the fact to person A.

Question 16

Prosecution: Charging a Accessory without a party to the offence being charged

Answer 16

As per s137, a charging document may be laid whether or not any party to the principal crimes is charged, convicted or otherwise amenable to justice. An accessory may be charged alone or jointly along with any party to the principal crime.

Question 17

Prosecution: Proof of principal offence

Answer 17

An accessory after the fact is entitled to insist on proof that the alleged offence was committed and to challenge that proof.

This rule also applies to situations where the offender has pleaded guilty to the principal offence. Despite such a plea and/or a conviction having been entered, the principal offence committed must still be proved where required.

Question 18

What is the principal difference between a party and an accessory?

Answer 18

That parties are involved in the offence before or during the commission of the offence, whereas accessories are involved after the principal offence has been committed.

Question 19

R v Gibbs

Answer 19

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

Question 20

R v Levy

Answer 20

It was held that Levy had done a deliberate act in relation to the evidence against the offender for the purpose of assisting that offender to evade justice.

Question 21

An accessory’s intent must be?

Answer 21

The intent must be to enable the offender to:

• escape after arrest
• avoid arrest
• avoid conviction