Complicity Flashcards
When do Principles and Accessories apply?
Principles and Accessories only apply to serious indictable offences
What are the four ways in which a person may be classified regarding their participation in a serious indictable offence?
- Principle in the 1st degree
- Principle in the 2nd degree
- Accessory before the fact
- Accessory after the fact
How is a Principle in the 1st degree defined?
The actual perpetrator of the serious indictable offence - or, the most immediate cause of the serious indictable offence
What is an ‘innocent agent’?
A principle in the 1st degree may commit a crime through an ‘innocent agent’. An ‘innocent agent’ is a person who:
(1) is under the directions of a principle
(2) commits the Actus Reus of the offence but lacks the Mens Rea
What are ‘joint principles’?
Joint Principles in the 1st degree occurs when two or more people carry out a joint criminal enterprise - the prosecution must prove: (1) the existence of a joint criminal enterprise (or agreement) and (2) participation by the accused in that event
How is a Principle in the 2nd degree defined?
A Principle in the 2nd degree is one who is present at the commission of the offence and aids, abets or assists (participates) in the commission of the offence - e.g. A person who is present at the scene and is offering assistance/encouragement
What is ‘Abandonment’?
White v Ridley - In order to an accused to claim abandonment from a common purpose to commit crimes, he must:
(1) communicate his intention to withdraw to the other principles, and
(2) accompany withdrawal with such actions as can reasonably be undertaken to undo the effect of the previous involvement
What is an ‘Accessory before the fact’?
Crimes Act - Section 346 - An accessory before the fact is someone who is absent at the time of the actual offence but counsels, commands or abets another to commit that offence - liable to the same punishment as the principle
R v Johns - Knowledge - prosecution must prove that the crime was in fact the crime contemplated by the accessory
What is an ‘Accessory after the fact’?
Crimes Act - Section 347 - An Accessory after the fact is someone who is absent at the time the serious indictable offence is committed but receives, comforts, harbours or assists the principle after the commission of the offence knowing that the offence was committed - Must be positive action - Prosecution don’t need to prove accessory knew offence was serious indictable offence
What is the doctrine of ‘common purpose’?
When two or more people act together in pursuance of a common unlawful objective then every act done in furtherance of that common purpose by any of them is, at law, done by all of them - unless a person acts outside common purpose (contemplation)
What three elements are required to demonstrate common purpose?
(1) A joint criminal enterprise (agree to foundational crime)
(2) Active participation by accused person
(3) A crime committed by participant outside the agreement but within the contemplation of the accused person (incidental crime)
What is the test in relation to the boundary of ‘common purpose’?
McAulife v R - The test in relation crimes falling outside of the foundational crimes is a subjective one - the scope of the common purpose is determined by what was subjectively contemplated by the accused person sharing the foundational objective with the principle
What is ‘in company’?
FP v R - in company requires that the offence was committed and that the co-accused shared a common purpose and that both persons were physical present being sufficiently proximate if: (a) it afforded encouragement to the co-accused or (b) it operated to intimidate or coerce the victim
