Violence Against the Persons Offences

Question 1

There are five main offences relating to violence against a person, these range in severity, as shown below:

Answer 1

1. Common Assault
2. Assault by Beating (Battery)
3. Actual Bodily Harm (‘ABH’)
4. Wounding/ inflicting Grievous Bodily Harm (‘GBH’)
5. Wounding/ causing Grievous Bodily Harm (‘GBH’) With Intent

Question 2

What is Common Assault?

Answer 2

s39 Criminal Justice Act 1988 there are two possible offences

Threat only:
- E.g I’m going to slap you, or conditional threat (if you do this I’ll___)

Question 3

What is Assault by Beating (Battery)?

Answer 3

s39 Criminal Justice Act 1988

Application of intentional or reckless force to another, physical contact occurs but with minor / no injury.

“Intentionally or recklessly applies unlawful force to another”.

Question 4

What is Actual Bodily Harm (‘ABH’)?

Answer 4

s47 Offences Against the Person Act 1861

Application of force to another, the victim receives hurt or injury which has disrupted the health or comfort of the victim (Miller, 1954). Capable of being seen or felt by victim, including psychiatric although this must be supported by medical evidence.

Needs to be proved assault was intended or carried out recklessly. Doesn’t need to be proved they intended to cause injuries that amounted to ABH.

A triable either-way offence with a max penalty of 5 years imprisonment.

Question 5

What is Wounding/ inflicting Grievous Bodily Harm (‘GBH’)?

Answer 5

s20 Offences Against the Person Act 1861

Offence to “unlawfully and maliciously (actual intent to do that kind or harm or recklessly)…wound another person” or to “inflict grievous bodily harm” (really serious)

The victim receives life-changing injuries, e.g breaking all layers of skin, broken bones, biological harm, heavy bleeding or significant psychological injury.

Age and characteristics of person is taken into account.

A triable either-way offence with a max penalty of 5 years imprisonment.

Question 6

What is Wounding/ causing Grievous Bodily Harm (‘GBH’) With Intent?

Answer 6

s18 Offences Against the Person Act 1861

“Unlawfully and maliciously by any means whatsoever wound or cause any grievous bodily harm to any person…with intent to do some grievous bodily harm to any person, or with intent to resist or prevent the lawful apprehension or detainer (e.g act of a store detective) of any person”.

As previous but the suspect is found to have caused GBH injuries with the intention to cause that level of injury (alternatively, with specific intent to resist or prevent an injury).

Triable on indictment only and penalty is life imprisonment.

Question 7

What are non-fatal offences?

Answer 7

Offences against a person that don’t result in death. It does, however, result in various degrees of injury.

Question 8

What are the potential charges of an assault?

Answer 8

s39 Criminal Justice Act 1988 has given courts the power to fine a maximum of £5000 or a prison sentence of up to 6 months.

Question 9

What kind of an offence is assualt?

Answer 9

A summary offence under common law

Question 10

What is the Actus Reus of assault?

Answer 10

Any unlawful act which leads to the victims apprehension that something bad might happen to them.

The acts can extend to…actions, words or even silent phone calls.

Saying I will not hurt you can prevent assault.

Question 11

For assault to occur, what must the defendant have/do?

Answer 11

Has to either have the intention to cause another to apprehend the immediate application of unlawful force.

Or recklessness.

As to whether such apprehension is caused. The defendant must realise that acts/ words could cause another to apprehend unlawful violence.

Question 12

What is the Actus Reus of battery?

Answer 12

The application of battery is the application of unlawful force to another.

Question 13

What is battery in practice?

Answer 13

The application of unlawful force can occur without assault for example when the victim is hit in the back of his head.

Any unlawful physical contact can amount to battery, such as slapping or pushing.

There is no need to prove harm or pain.

Question 14

Do you need to apply force directly to the victims body for it to be counted as battery?

Answer 14

No- touching the victims clothing can amount to it too - even if they didn’t feel a thing.

Question 15

What is the Actus Reus of ABH?

Answer 15

Is caused by either assault or battery, but leads to injuries classed as ABH.

It is necessary to prove the existence of assault or battery.

Question 16

Does physical pain have to always be the case for ABH?

Answer 16

No- cutting someones hair was held to be ABH as said in DPP v Smith (2006)

Question 17

What is the mens rea of GBH?

Answer 17

The defendant had either intended to cause harm or was subjectively reckless - this means there must have been some awareness of the risk of harm involved.

Question 18

What is the distinction between a common assault and battery?

Answer 18

In common law, an assault is “any act by which a person intentionally or recklessly causes another person to apprehend immediate and unlawful personal violence”.

Therefore, an assault, in itself, does not require any physical application of force on another person. The distinction between a victim experiencing the application of force and a victim apprehending that force is thus relevant.

Question 19

Give two examples where a threat constitutes an assault:

Answer 19

During an argument, THACKER brings his fist back and threatens SMITH so that SMITH thinks he is about to get punched. Offence complete.

A collection of silent phone calls that caused the victim to believe that they were about to be attacked have been held to constitute an offence and the instigator can be held liable for any injury sustained as a result, physical or otherwise. Offence complete.

Question 20

Grievous is described in law as “really serious injury”. GBH injuries can take many forms, for example:

Answer 20

Breaking of skin, with loss of blood
Broken bones
Deep bruising and internal bleeding
Significant psychological injury
Infection with or debilitating diseases, e.g. reckless transmission of HIV.

Question 21

When a suspect causes an injury that is consistent with GBH, an offence under Section…

Answer 21

Section 20 Offences Against the Person Act 1861 is complete.

S20 is the most commonly used because it requires no proof of the suspect’s intention to cause the level of injuries acquired by the victim. The court must only prove that the suspect had the mens rea for some kind of assault.

Question 22

Example 1 GBH s20 Offences Against the Person Act 1861

Answer 22

ROBERTS becomes upset with the way that SMITH is looking at his boyfriend. ROBERTS shoves SMITH with two hands to the chest. SMITH is pushed backwards, loses her footing and falls to the ground, fracturing her skull on the concrete curb. ROBERTS had no intention to cause the level of injuries sustained in this case. Under s20 GBH complete.

Question 23

Example 2 GBH s20 Offences Against the Person Act 1861

Answer 23

JAMES meets MORRIS at a club and has consensual sex with her that evening. At the time, JAMES was unaware that six weeks previously, having had unprotected sex with another stranger who he knew was positive for Hepatitis B, he also contracted Hepatitis B. MORRIS is infected with Hepatitis B. JAMES had no intention to infect MORRIS but was reckless to the risk of infecting MORRIS with a sexually transmitted disease. Under s20 GBH complete.

Question 24

A persons will be found guilty of s18 GBH (under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861) if…

Answer 24

He/she “unlawfully and maliciously by any means whatsoever wounds or causes any grievous bodily harm to any person with intent to do some grievous bodily harm to any person, or with intent to resist or prevent the lawful apprehension or detainer of any person.”

Being an offence of specific intent, the injury sustained must constitute GBH and the defendant must be proven to have intended to cause that level of injury.

Question 25

Example 1 GBH s18 Offences Against the Person Act 1861

Answer 25

Following a verbal altercation outside a pub, HALL reaches for a brick from the floor and shouts to MOAH “I am going to break you!”. HALL grabs MOAH and smashes the brick on his skull, intending to cause serious injury. MOAH suffers a fractured skull, significant bleeding and permanent brain damage. S18 offence complete.

Question 26

Example 2 GBH s18 Offences Against the Person Act 1861

Answer 26

GAIL pushes PC FRENCH with a bat to stop her from arresting her husband JOE. PC FRENCH receives a broken wrist as a result of the impact. After, GAIL states that she did not want to seriously hurt PC FRENCH but admits that she had foreseen this as a likelihood and only did it to prevent the arrest of her husband. S18 offence complete.

Question 27

What is the evidence needed for Section 18 Offences Against the Person Act 1861?

Answer 27

Proof of the intent to cause a high level of injury can be supported by evidence of kicking/heavily the defendant in the head, repeated blows/wounds, pre-existing motive, accompanying words (e.g. “I’ll put you in hospital”) or if the event occurs in an obviously dangerous environment (e.g. a cliff top).

Question 28

Definition of assault and battery?

Answer 28

An act by which a person intentionally or recklessly causes another to apprehend immediate and unlawful personal violence and a battery is an act by which a person intentionally or recklessly inflicts person violence upon another.

Assault = apprehending threat of force

Battery = application of force

Question 29

What is a non conditional threat and is it an assault?

Answer 29

“If your brothers weren’t here i’d thump you” - not considered an assault. The wording of the threat shows they’re not going to assault the person therefore there is no IMMEDIATE threat.

Question 30

Define threat in the context of common assault

Answer 30

An assault is any act (and not mere omission to act) by which a person intentionally or recklessly causes another to suffer or apprehend immediate unlawful violence.