Kidnapping Flashcards
Q: Is kidnapping a criminal offence or civil wrong?
It is a common law offence.
It is viewed as an aggravated form of false imprisonment.
Q: How is kidnapping different to false imprisonment?
D doesn’t just detain his victim in a particular place, he must then move his victim from one place to another.
Q: What type of offence is kidnapping?
Triable on indictment
Unlimited maximum penalty
Q: What is kidnapping?
It is the taking or carrying away of one person by another by force or by fraud without the consent of that person and without lawful excuse.
Q: Can a victim consent to being deprived of his liberty (1)?
No.
If they do consent, then there can be no false imprisonment or no kidnap.
If you agree to be locked as part of a prank then there is no false imprisonment or no kidnap.
If the V genuinely consents to an initial taking but later withdraws that consent, the offence would be complete if the activity continues
Q: Case- consent obtained by fraud
Hendy- Freegard 2007
D was convicted of 2 offences of kidnapping and a number of offences of theft and deception.
D had managed to persuade 3 victims that he was an MI5 agent who had been investigating an IRA cell at their college and they were in danger.
He persuaded them to leave the college and travel around the country from location to location for a period of 10 years. During this time he financially exploited them.
His convictions for kidnapping were quashed on the basis that he did not accompany his victims on their travels and they were not ever deprived of their liberty and that V’s consented on every occasion on their own freewill on each occasion.
Q: What does ‘taken’ or ‘carried away’ mean?
No exact definition- V must be moved though. D must accompany V on their journey.
This means moved from his original location to another.
If there is no taking or carrying away then it is a false imprisonment.
It does not need to involve a great distance.
Q: Is causing another person to move sufficient?
Causing a person to move from one place to another when unaccompanied by D does not amount to a taking and carrying away for the purposes of an offence.
Q: How far does V need to be moved from his original location?
It does not need to involve a great distance.
As long as V has moved from his location then this will be sufficient. A few meters may be sufficient, as long as they are moved from place to another.
Q: How must the movement of the victim be achieved?
By either force or fraud.
Q: What does ‘force’ mean?
Force includes violence or threats of violence/force.
It does not mean overt physical force. It encompasses any conduct that overrides the victim’s true consent.
Submission induced by fear of D may be enough.
Q: What does ‘fraud’ mean?
May include someone who impersonates another and gains a victim’s consent to be carried away as a result, on the basis that there is no true consent when that consent is obtained by fraud.
Q: What is a ‘lawful excuse’?
Q: Do parents have leeway in relation to their children?
Yes.
Eg: if child refuses to return home after staying with grandparent, the father can forcibly remove the child.
The question will be if the parent has gone beyond that which is reasonable in the exercise of parental authority.
Q: Whose consent is required for a prosecution?
If there is an allegation of kidnap involving a parent offender and their child is the victim, the consent of the DPP would be required for a prosecution.
It would first need to be considered if a criminal prosecution would be in the best interests of the child, family etc…
