Parties Flashcards
Proof of assistance required
R v Larkin - While it is unnecessary that the principal be aware that he or she is being assisted there must be proof of the actual assistance. The mere commission of an act intended to have that effect is insufficient. Absence of knowledge by the principal that he is being assisted removes a common foundation for a finding of actual assistance, namely that the principal was able to proceed with his enterprise with the additional confidence gained because his accomplice was on the lookout for unwanted attention.
Special Relationship with no intervention in the crime
R v Russell - The accused was morally bound to take active steps to save his children, but by his deliberate abstention from so doing, and by giving the encouragement and authority of his presence and approval to his wife’s act, he became an aider and abettor and thus a secondary offender.
Legal Duty
Ashton v Police - An example of a secondary party owing a legal duty to a third person or to the general public is a person teaching another person to drive. That person is, in New Zealand, under a legal duty to take reasonable precautions, because under s156 of the Crimes Act 1961 he is deemed to be in charge of a dangerous thing.
Intention to help or encourage must exist
R v Pene - A party must intentionaly help or encourage. It is insufficient if they were reckless as to whether the principal offender was assisted or encouraged.
Common Intention - part to a secondary offence
R v Betts & Ridley - An offence where no violence is contemplated and the principal offender in carrying out the common aim uses violence, a secondary offender taking no physical part in it would not be held liable for the violence used.
Multiple offenders - Principal offender not identified
R v Renata - Where the principal offender cannot be identified it is sufficient to prove that each individual accused must have been either the principal or a party in one of the ways contemplated by s66(1).
