Robbery Flashcards
Definition of robbery and where is it defined
Section 8 of the theft act 1968
‘ a person is guilty of robbery if he steals and immediately before or at the time of doing so, an in order to do so he uses force on any person or puts or seeks to put any person in fear of being then and there subjected to force’
What are the acts reus and mens rea elements of robbery
Actus reus: - theft - force or putting or seeking to put any person in fear of force Mens rea: - mens rea for theft - intended to use force to steal
Completed theft
There must be a completed theft for a robbery to have been committed meaning that all the elements of theft must be present
What case demonstrates where there wasnt a completed theft
R v Waters- no evidence showing that D had the intention of permanently depriving V of her phone - condition for returning the phone could have been fulfilled in the near future.
Corcoran v Anderson
- D’s hit V in the back of the head causing her to fall to the ground drop the bag and the D’s then picked it up however didn’t actually take the bag as V was drawing too much attention- D’s had a completed theft and therefore robbery was present,.
Force or threat of force case
R v Dawson and James = D pushed v casing him to loose balance as the other D stole his wallet, convicted of robbery= CofA ruled the force is an ordinary word and is for the jury to decide
What does the case of P v DPP show
where D snatched a fag from V’s hand without touching v in any way. This was not ruled to be force as there was no direct contact between the parties.
Pickpocketing robbery
Where V is unaware of force and D’s do not touch V then this is not robbery.
HOWEVER if D jostle V to distract him while theft is taking place then this is robbery.
B and R v DPP
The victim does NOT have to be scared of the force but the fact that the D intended to make the victim frightened is enough to withhold conviction
Use of force ‘on any person’
meaning that the person threatened need not be the person from whom the theft was committed against. For example an armed robber entering a bank - use/seek to make the people in the bank scared of the application of force despite them stealing from the bank
Force must be immediately before or at the time of the theft
- how immediate is ‘immediately before’?
- when is the theft completed? so that the force is not considered to be ‘at the time of stealing’
Force must be uses in order to steal
If D and V had a fight and V then takes D’s money from the floor this would not be robbery as the force used was not in the intention of stealing
