Liability 71(1)

Question 1

Accessory After the Fact

Section and Penalty

Answer 1

Section 71(1) Crimes Act 1961

< 10 Years - 1/2 Penalty
> 10 Years - 5 Years
Life - Max 7 Years

Question 2

Accessory After the Fact

Ingredients

Answer 2

.1 Knowing any person to be a party to an offence

.2 Receives, comforts or assists that person

OR

Tampers with or actively suppresses any evidence against him or her

.3 In order to enable him or her to escape after arrest

OR

To avoid arrest or conviction

Question 3

.1 Knowing any person to be a party to an offence

Answer 3

Knowing:
The accused must have knowledge that the person that they are being an accessory to was party to an offence at the time of assisting them.

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Knowing means knowing or correctly believing. The belief must be a correct one. Where the belief is wrong a person cannot know something.
Simester and Brookbanks

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Knowledge means actual knowledge or belief in the sense of having no real doubt that the person assisted was a party to the relevant offence.
R v Crooks

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Knowing may also be inferred from wilful blindness or a deliberate abstention from making enquiries that would confirm the suspected truth.
R v Briggs

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Person:
Gender neutral. Proven by judicial notice or circumstantial evidence.

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Party:
Defined as anyone who:
- Commits the offence
- Does or omits an act for the purpose of aiding any person to commit the offence
- Abets any person in the commission of the offence
- Incites, counsels, or procures any person to commit the offence
s66(1), CA 1961
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Offence:
Any act or omission that is punishable on conviction under any enactment, and are demarcated into four categories.

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A person charged with being an accessory after the fact is entitled to insist on proof of the principle crime and to challenge the evidence of it even if the principle offender has pleaded guilty.

Question 4

.2 Receives, comforts or assists that person

OR

Tampers with or actively suppresses any evidence against him or her

Answer 4

Receives, comforts or assists:
The accused does a deliberate act for the purpose of assisting the person to evade justice. The act done must actually help the person in some way.

OR

Tampers with or actively suppresses any evidence:
Must do a deliberate act in relation to evidence against the offender for the purpose of assisting the person to evade justice. The act must actually help the person.

Question 5

.3 In order to enable him or her to escape after arrest

OR

To avoid arrest or conviction

Answer 5

To be considered an accessory the acts done by the person must be after the completion of the offence.
R v Mane

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The act must have specifically assisted the offender after they had been arrested.

OR

All acts must be done by accused with the expressed intention that the person evades justice either by avoiding arrest or conviction.