Criminal Damage Flashcards
Samuels v Stubbs
No need to define destruction and damage
Matter of fact and degree
A (a juvenile) v R
Spat at policeman
Expense had to be incurred for there to be damage
Hardman v CC Avon and Somerset
Expense and inconvenience had to be caused to be damage
Morphitis v Salmon
Damage is a permanent or temporary impairment of an object’s usefulness or value
R v Fiak
Damage need not be permanent
CC Somerset and Avon v Shimmen
Foreseeability of risk must be weighed up against social utility of taking the risk
R v Smith
No mens rea if D did not realise that property might belong to another
Jaggard v Dickinson
A drunken mistake, if honestly believed, will suffice for s5 (2) defence
R v Denton
s5(2) cannot be restricted to beliefs in lawful motives for the owner’s consent
Blake v DPP
A belief that God consents to damage will not be a defence
R v Baker and Wilkins
D must act to protect property, not a person, under s5(2)(b)
Johnson v DPP
D must believe that the property is in immediate need of protection
R v Hunt
The act must be objectively capable of protecting the property, not just to prevent further damage to the property
R v Hill and Hall
The act cannot be too remote from the eventual aim of protecting property
R v Sangha
No life need actually be endangered to establish aggravated criminal damage if D intended or was reckless as to endangering life
R v Steer
Danger to life intended or foreseen must arise from the damage caused, not from the cause of the damage
If damage is caused by fire, the risk to life will always be from the damaged property
R v Dudley
Must look to the danger foreseen/intended rather than the danger that actually happened
