module Flashcards
Circumstantial evidence from which an offender’s intent may be inferred can include:
The offender’s actions and words before, during and after the event
The surrounding circumstances
The nature of the act itself
In serious assault cases, additional circumstantial evidence that may assist in proving an offender’s intent may include:
Prior threats Evidence of premeditation The use of a weapon Whether any weapon used was opportunistic or purposely brought The number of blows The degree of force used The body parts targeted by the offender the degree of resistance of helplessness of the victim
Maiming
Maiming will involve mutilating, crippling, or disabling a part of the body so as to deprive the victim of the use of a limb or of one of the senses
Disfigure
To disfigure means to deform or deface; to mar or alter the figure or appearance of a person
Injure
To injure means to cause actual bodily harm
Define sets fire
Although fire damage will often involve burning of charring, it is not necessary that the property is set alight. Melting, blistering of paint or significant smoke damage may be sufficient to prove the offence
Define property
Property includes real and personal property, and any estate of interest in any real or personal property, money electricity, and any debt, and any thing in action, and any other right or interest
Define a Constable pursuant to the Policing Act 2008
Constable means a police employee who
(a) holds the office of constable and
(b) includes a constable who holds any level of position within the New Zealand Police
In R v Tihi it was held that in proving an offence against s 191, the prosecution must satisfy a two-fold test for intent
- The defendant intended to facilitate the commission of an imprisonable offence (or one of the other intents specified in para a, b or c, and
- He or she intended to cause the specified harm or was reckless as to that risk
In order to succeed with a conviction for assault, what elements are you required to prove?
The intention to apply or attempt to apply force to another
The application or attempted application of force, whether directly or indirectly, or
Threaten to apply force in circumstances where the victim believes the offender will be able to carry out the threat
Define pistol
Means any F/A that is designed or adapted to be held and fired with one hand; and includes any F/A that is less than 762mm in length
Define restricted weapon
Means any weapon, whether a F/A or not, declared by the Governor-General, by order in council made under S4 of this act, to be a restricted weapon
Define dishonestly
Dishonestly, in relation to an act or omission, means done or omitted without a belief that there was express or implied consent to, or authority for, the act or omission from a person entitled to give such consent or authority
Define claim of right
Claim of right, in relation to any act, means a belief at the time of the act in a proprietary or possessory right in property in relation to which the offence is alleged to have been committed, although that belief may be based on ignorance or mistake of fact or of any matter of law other than the enactment against which the offence is alleged to have been committed
Define assault
The act of intentionally applying or attempting to apply force to the person of another, directly or indirectly, or threatening by any act or gesture to apply such force to the person of another, if the person making the threat has, or causes the other to believe on reasonable grounds that he or she has the present ability to effect his or her purpose; and to assault has a corresponding meaning
What is the key difference between Migrant Smuggling and People Trafficking
Migrant smuggling involves a person who has freely consented to be brought into NZ as an illegal immigrant and is not subjected to coercion or deception.
People trafficking involves a person who is brought into NZ by means of coercion and/or deception.
What are the three categories for Migrant Smuggling and People Trafficking investigations?
Reactive investigation - victim led and often initiated by an approach to Police
Proactive investigation - Police led, a combination of standard investigation techniques
supplemented by intelligence resources
Disruptive investigation - Appropriate in circumstances where the level or risk to the victim demands an appropriate response
What are the three intents for kidnapping?
(a) with intent to hold him or her for ransom or to service; or
(b) with intent to cause him or her to be confined or imprisoned; or
(c) with intent to cause him or her to be sent or taken out of NZ
Define injurious substance and provide an example
The term injurious substance or device covers a range of things capable of causing harm to a person. For example, a letter containing Anthrax powder
What does R v Waters say a wound is?
A breaking of the skin would be commonly regarded as a characteristic of a wound. The breaking of the skin will be normally evidenced by a flow of blood and, in its occurrence at the site of a blow or impact, the wound will more often than not be external. But there are those cases where the bleeding which evidences the separation of tissues may be internal
Explain R v Skivington
Larceny (or theft) is an element of robbery, and if the honest belief that a man has a claim of right is a defence to larceny, then it negates one of the elements in the offence of robbery, without proof of which the full offence is not made out
List the ingredients for demanding with intent to steal s239(1)
Without claim of right
By force or with any threat
Compels any person to
Execute, make, accept, endorse, alter or destroy
Any document capable of conferring a pecuniary advantage
With intent to obtain any benefit
List the intents of blackmail
(a) to cause the person to whom the threat is made to act in accordance with the will of the person making the threat; and
(b) to obtain any benefit or to cause loss to any other person
Define stupefies including Case Law R v Sturm
Stupefy means to cause an effect on the mind or nervous system of a person, which really seriously interferes with that person’s mental or physical ability to act in any way which might hinder an intended crime
In R V Sturm the defendant was convicted after administering alcohol, ecstasy and other drugs to a number of male victims, in order to dull their sense sufficiently, to enable him to sexually violate them
Explain R v Taisalika in relation to intoxication and intent
The nature of the blow and the gash which it produced on the complainant’s head would point strongly to the presence of the necessary intent
The court held that loss of memory of past events is not the same as a lack of intent at the time
Explain the doctrine of transferred malice and Case Law R v Hunt
It is not necessary that the person suffering the harm was the intended victim. Where the defendant mistakes the identity of the person injured, or where harm intended for one person is accidentally inflicted on another, he is still criminally responsible despite the wrong target being struck.
In R v Hunt the defendant, while breaking into another man’s stables, was caught by the property owner and his servant. Hunt attempted to stab the property owner with the knife, but in the ensuing struggle he unintentionally inflicted a superficial cut to the servant’s wrist.
What is the statutory defence for blackmail
It is a defence to blackmail for the defendant to show they believed they were entitled to obtain the benefit or to cause the loss, and, objectively viewed, the making of the threat was a reasonable and proper means for obtaining the benefit or causing the loss
What was held in R v Lapier
Robbery is complete the instant the property is taken, even if possession by the thief is only momentary
List the ingredients of using a F/A against a law enforcement officer
Uses any F/A in any manner whatever
Against any constable or any traffic officer or any prison officer
Acting in the course of his or her duty
Knowing that or being reckless whether or not
That the person is a constable or traffic officer or prison officer so acting
What are the factors that increase the charge from a robbery to being an aggravated robbery
(a) At the time of or immediately before or immediately after the robbery causes GBH to any person
(b) Being together with any other person or persons
(c) Being armed with any offensive weapon or instrument or anything appearing to be such a weapon or instrument
What must the prosecution prove against someone who abducts a young person under s210(2)
- The defendant received a person under the age of 16
- The receiving was intentional
- The defendant knew the young person had been unlawfully taken or enticed away or detained by another from a parent, guardian or other person having lawful care or charge of him or her of the possession of that young person; and
- The defendant intended by reason of the receiving to deprive a parent, guardian or other person having lawful care or charge of him or her of the possession of that young person
What was held in R v Joyce
The crown must establish that at least two persons were physically present at the time the robbery was committed or the assault occurred
What is the definition of an airgun?
airgun includes—
(a )any air rifle; and
(b) any air pistol; and
(c) any weapon from which, by the use of gas or compressed air (and not by force of explosive), any shot, bullet, missile, or other projectile can be discharged
What is the definition of an explosive?
explosive—
(a) means any substance or mixture or combination of substances which in its normal state is capable either of decomposition at such rapid rate as to result in an explosion or of producing a pyrotechnic effect;
Includes gun powder and nitroglycerine but excludes a firearm and fireworks
What is the definition of a F/A?
firearm—
(a) means anything from which any shot, bullet, missile, or other projectile can be discharged by force of explosive
