Criminal Damage Act (CDA) 1971 Flashcards
What is the AR and MR of Simple Criminal Damage? (s1(1) CDA 1971)?
AR:
(a) Damage or destruction;
(b) Of property;
(c) Belonging to another.
MR:
(a) Intention or recklessness as to the damage or destruction;
(b) Knowledge or recklessness as to whether the property belongs to another.
What is the AR and MR of Aggravated Criminal Damage (s1(2) CDA 1971)?
AR:
(a) Damage or destruction;
(b) Of property.
MR:
(a) Intention or recklessness as to the damage or destruction;
(b) Intention or recklessness as to the endangerment of life.
Which case established that the damage or destruction itself had to endanger life, not simply the act that led to the damage?
Steer
Aggravated Criminal Damage does not require the actual endangerment of life, simply maliciousness towards endangerment.
Dudley
How does s5(2)(a) define ‘lawful excuse’?
(a) Someone believes they had the consent of the person who was entitled to give permission for the damage to be caused; or
(b) Someone believed that they had the consent of the person who they thought was entitled to give permission; or
(c) Someone believed that they would have had permission if the person who could have granted it would have known of the damage and the circumstances.
How does s5(2)(b) define ‘lawful excuse’?
(a) The defendant believed their property (or another’s) was in immediate need of protection; and
(b) They believed that the means of protection adopted were reasonable having regard to all the circumstances.
There should be a common-sense approach to defining damage.
Roe
Property is treated as belonging to another in what three circumstances?
(a) Where another person has custody or control over it;
(b) Where another person has a proprietary right or interest (however not an equitable interest arising only from an agreement to transfer or grant an interest);
(c) Where another person has a charge on it.
