Crimes Against Bodily Integrity Flashcards
PART 1
Assault
What is assualt?
- unlawful and intentional act or omission, which results in another person’s bodily integrity being directly or indirectly infringed or impaired.
2.Inspires a belief in another person that such impairment of bodily integrity is immediately to take place
>.There ought to be visible injuries present. It is not a requirement that there should be actual injuries
Assault
What did the Matle case state regarding assault?
Accused took a walking stick and threw it at his girlfriend but it hit his mother.
-The court had to decide if he had the intention to hit his mother+ it could not be prove dthat he had the intention to assault his mother
-Assault cannot be committed negligently
Assault
What is assault with intention?
assault with intention to commit another crime eg.theft
Assault
What did the A case state regarding assault?
-If you force a person to drink any substance you can be found guilty of assault
Assault
What did the visagie case state regardung assualt?
-Assault commited by means of a threat requires taht the threat must be of immediate violence in order to constitute assault
Assault
What is assault with the intention to do grievious bodily harm?
Assault with the Intent to Do Serious Bodily Harm
All normal requirements of assault are required with the additional requirement that X must have the intent to do grievous bodily harm.
>Whether such harm is inflicted is irrelevant - as long as X has intention then it is sufficient
Assault
What did the Mthimunye case state regarding assaulth with GBH?
even the threat of assault GBH would be sufficient, thus it is not a requirement for Y to sustain injuries that we can visibly see.
Assault
What did the Benjamin case state regarding assault with GBH?
-The two accused persons (brothers) fired a shot at the complainant, but it did not harm him.
-During the attack, they threatened him to also steal money
-The prosecution then charged them with assault to do GBH as well as attempted murder.
These two charges arose from the same offence (the act of assault), and they were convicted of both charges in the trial court
**In the appeal court **- the court held that the offences above can be argued in the alternative, however, there cannot be convicted of both - as it is duplication of convictions/splitting of charges.
The court overturned the other charge - and the court only held him liable for the assault GBH.
Assault
What did the Marx case state regarding assault?
Assault can also be administered where X administers a harmful substance in Y drink.
Administering a harmful substance to another person.
- the accused invited the kids into his apartment and gave the children wine. Several tumblers of wine. The children were highly intoxicated, and couldn’t even walk.
-The accused was charged with assault, and his defence was that the children had consented to it.
-The court held that the amount of wine that he gave them was enough to cause physical harm to the kids, and further they were not of an age in which they could consent to such. Thus was convicted of assault.
Assault
What factors are used to determine assault with intention according to the Dipholo case?
The court set out the factors to establish whether there was assault GBH
The court held that it will depend on the facts of the case and factors that could be relevant are as follows:
1.Whether X was walking around with a weapon
2.The degree of violence
3.The way in which the weapon was used
4.The part of the body aimed at
5.Persistence of attack
Assault
What did the Madikane case state regarding assault with GBH?
-The case dealt with electric shocks.
-The two accused (who were also police officials) electrocuted suspected criminals by shock cables in the ears during interrogation. They fixed the electric wires to the ears of the suspected criminals and shocked them
.
>The accused were charged with assault GBH.
>The accused raised the defence that it cannot be assault GBH as there were no visible injuries /harm.
> The court held that this is not a valid defence as it is not a requirement for injuries to be visible, further that emotional and psychological trauma is sufficient for conviction.
= Thus the administering of the shock is sufficient to amount o assault GBH.The two accused were found guilty for assault GBH.
Indecent assault
What is indecent assault?
Unlawful and intentionally assaulting/touching another in circumstances in which the act itself and the intention with which it was committed was sexual
-Sexual Offences Act does not have retrospective application; thus were the incident happened before 16 Dec 2007 (the date when the Sexual Offence Act commenced), then we will use the common law offence
Indecent Assault
What did the F case state regarding indecent assault?
-Two applellants (pastors) and wanted to teach male prostitutes a lesson.
-One evening, they set out and picked up a male prostitute and told him to undress and keep his underpants on, and they also undressed and kept their underpants..
-They then spanked him, to teach him that prostitution is bad.
> The accused in court argued that they did not touch his private parts, thus they cannot be charged with indecent assault.
However, the court held for that for indecent assault, we look at the express motives/intention of the accused, which according to the facts, the court held that their intention was indecent.
=The fact that they were also undressed etc, proved that their intentions were indecent.
Indecent Assault
What did the D case state regarding indecent assault?
The two accused persons were the grandparents of a young boy
* The young boy was under their custody, and the boy had a habit of wetting his bed at night whilst he was sleeping.
* The grandparents sought advice on how they could put an end to this.
* The grandparents got advice that that if they spray spray-paint on the private parts, then the bed-wetting will stop. The grandparents believed the advise and executed the advise.
* They were charged with indecent assault - the grandparents argued held that they did NOT have an indecent motive/intention - and the court held that this was the case, and they were only convicted with normal assault.
Sexual Offences Act
What is sexual assault?
SEC 5
- A person (X) who unlawfully and intentionally sexually violates a complainant without the consent of (Y), is guilty of the offence of sexual assault.
- (b) A person (X) who unlawfully and intentionally inspires the belief in a complainant (Y) that will be sexually violated is guilty of the offence of sexual assault
Crime of sexual assault can only be committed INTENTIONALLY, thus there is not such a thing as NEGLIGENT sexual assault.
The defence that can be raised as it pertains to sexual assault is consent. The offence rests on the fact that there was lack of consent.
