assault Flashcards
s.39 criminal justice act
assault
An act which causes the V to apprehend immediate, unlawful violence with either intention to cause another to fear or recklessness to whether fear will be caused
An act
V has a general awareness of violence, even if D is joking
The D is in a close proximity
R v Misalati
D spat towards C, although no actual violence, spitting is an assault whether it makes contact with the V or causes them to fear immediate unlawful violence.
R v Ireland
D made series of silent phone calls over 3 months to 3 women. Silence can amount ti an assault and psychiatric injury can amount to bodily harm
R v Constanza
D had written 800 letters and made a number of phone calls to V. V interpreted the last two letters as clear threats.
Letters could be assault as there was ‘‘fear of violence at some time, not excluding immediate future’’
apprehend
the V thinks the violence could occur within a reasonable period of time
R v Lamb
Pointing an unloaded gun at someone who thinks it’s unloaded cannot be assault. The other person doesn’t fear immediate force. If the person thought the gun was loaded then this could be assault
Logdon v DPP
D pointed an imitation gun at a woman, she was terrified. D then told her it wasn’t real. assault committed as the V had apprehended immediate unlawful violence. D was reckless as to whether shed apprehend
Smith v Woking police
D broke into garden at 11pm and looked through the Vs downstair bedroom window, although no attack could be immediate, court held V was terrified by his conduct.
Fear of what he might do next was sufficiently immediate for purposes of the offence
sometimes your own words can cancel out the assault
> Tuberville v Savage- D put his hand on his sword but said he wasn’t going to hurt V. This didn’t amount to an assault as the words indicated no violence
R v Light - D held sword over wife’s head and said ‘were it not for the bloody policeman outside, I would split your head open’. this was assault
immediate unlawful force
force can be ‘any touch, however slight’ if it goes beyond the accepted norms of everyday life
R v Dume
D let his dog loose, telling it to harm the police officer. It was an assault for D to threaten to set an animal on V
mens rea
> intention to cause another to fear immediate unlawful violence
Direct intention - Mohan
oblique intention - Maloney
Virtual certainty - Mathews v Alleyne
> recklessness as to whether such fear is caused . D must realise there is a risk that acts/words could cause another to fear unlawful personal force - R v Cunningham
