Assault Flashcards
List relevant concepts of Assault…
- Recklessness
- Criminal Liability
- Temporal Coincidence
- Mens rea and actus reus
- Legal defences to assault
Define Assault…
Any act committed either intentionally or recklessly that threatens another person with immediate and unlawful violence.
It is not necessary for actual physical harm to be inflicted.
Assaults can include…
- Advance towards someone with a clenched fist (threats)
- Using a dog as a weapon
- Non-consenting kiss
- Spitting on a person
- Striking a horse causing the rider to fall
- Pointing an unloaded/loaded firearm or toy pistol (if the victim believes it to be a pistol/taser)
- An unlawful arrest
- Excessive force
What is section 61 of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW)?
Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), Section 61
Common assault prosecuted by indictment
What are the elements of “Common assault prosecuted by indictment”
- The accused
- Assaulted
- A person
To establish this element, it must also accommodate consideration of the following sub-categories:
Intentionally or recklessly
Without consent (R v Bonora (1994) NSWSC)
Without lawful excuse
What is Section 60 of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW)?
Assault and other actions against police officers
What is Section 59 of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW)
Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), Section 59
Assault occasioning actual bodily harm
What are the elements of “Assault occasioning actual bodily harm”?
(Section 59, Crimes Act 1900 (NSW))
- The accused
- Assaulted
- A person
- Occasioning actual bodily harm
What is the definition of actual bodily harm?
Includes any hurt or injury calculated to interfere with the health or comfort of the victim.
Such hurt need not be permanent but must be more than merely TRANSIENT and TRIFLING, for example, scratches and bruises.
What is section 35 of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) ?
(Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), Section 35)
Reckless grievous bodily harm or wounding
Explain “Reckless”
An injury is caused recklessly if the accused foresaw the possibility of causing actual bodily harm to the victim by his or her actions yet he or she went ahead and acted as he or she did.
What is section 33 of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW)?
(Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), Section 33)
Wounding or grievous bodily harm with intent
What is the definition of Wound?
Defined at common law, wounding involves the breaking of the skin (dermis).
It is an injury in which the skin, tissue, or an organ is broken by some external force such as a blow or incision or deep laceration, with damage to the underlying tissue.
What is Section 37 of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW)?
(Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), Section 37)
Choking, suffocation and strangulation
What is Section 418 of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW)?
(Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), Section 418)
Self-defence-when available
What is Section 61AA of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW)?
(Crimes Act 1900 (NSW),
Section 61AA)
Defence of lawful correction
defence against a charge that a parent or a person in the place of a parent has assaulted a child.
Explain the Mens rea of Assault.
The intention to effect an unlawful contact or to create an apprehension of imminent unlawful contact in the mind of the other person.
INTENT TO ASSAULT THEM