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
