Violence offences + Kidnapping/Abduction Flashcards
What are the elements of wounding with intent?
- With intent to cause GBH
- To any person
- Wounds OR maims OR disfigures OR causes GBH
- To any person
What is ‘intent’?
There must be intention to both commit the act and get a specific result.
An act or omission must be done deliberately. The act or omission must be more than involuntary or accidental
What does R v Taisalika say about intent?
The nature of the blow and the gash which it produced point strongly to the presence of the necessary intent
What does R v Collister say about intent?
Circumstantial evidence from which an offender’s intent may be inferred and can include:
- Actions and words before during and after the event
- Surrounding circumstances
- Nature of the act itself
What does DPP v Smith saying about GBH?
‘Bodily harm’ needs no explanation and ‘grievous’ means no more and no less than ‘really serious’
What does ‘wounds’ mean and what is the relevant case law?
R v Waters defined wounds as ‘a breaking of the skin evidenced by the flow of blood’. This may be internal or external
How is ‘maims’ defined?
To deprive the victim of the use of a limb or one of the senses. Needs to have some degree of permanence
How is ‘disfigures’ defined? What is the relevant case law?
To deform or deface; to mar or alter the appearance of a person.
R v Rapana and Murray states that the damage does not need to be permanent
What are the elements for wounding with intent (reckless disregard)?
- With intent to injure any person OR with reckless disregard for the safety of others
- Wounds OR maims OR disfigures OR causes GBH
- To any person
What does R v McArthur say about bodily harm?
‘Bodily harm’ includes any hurt or injury calculated to interfere with the health or comfort of the victim. It need not be permanent but must be more than transitory and trifling
What must the prosecution prove if ‘reckless’ is an element in an offence?
- That the defendant consciously and deliberately ran a risk (subjective test)
- That the risk was one that was unreasonable to take in the circumstances as they were known to the defendant (reasonable person test - objective)
What does Cameron v R say about recklessness?
Recklessness is established if:
The defendant recognised that there was a real possibility that
- His/her actions would bring about proscribed results and/or
- Proscribed circumstances existed and
- Having regard to that risk those actions were unreasonable
What does R v Tipple say about recklessness?
Recklessness requires that the offender know of, or have a conscious appreciation of the relevant risk, and it may be said that it requires “a deliberate decision to run the risk”
What are the elements of injuring with intent?
- With intent to cause GBH
- To any person
- Injures
- Any person
What are the elements of injures with intent (reckless disregard)?
- With intent to injure any person OR with reckless disregard for the safety of others
- Injures
- Any person
What are the elements of aggravated wounding?
- With intent to commit or facilitate the commission of any imprisonable offence OR to avoid the detection of himself or of any other person in the commission of any imprisonable offence OR to avoid the arrest or facilitate the flight of himself or of any other person upon the commission or attempted commission of any imprisonable offence
- Wounds OR maims OR disfigures OR causes GBH OR stupefies OR renders unconscious OR using any violent means renders any person incapable of resistance
- Any person
Can a person be charged with aggravated wounding without committing the intended imprisonable offence? What is the relevant case law?
Yes - they only require the necessary intent at the time the harm was caused. It does not matter if they actually committed the offence.
However, R v Wati states that there must be proof of the commission or attempted commission of a crime either by the person who does the assault or by the person whose arrest or flight he intends to avoid or facilitate
What does R v Tihi say about intent?
It must be shown that the offender meant to cause the specified harm or foresaw that the actions undertaken by him/her were likely to expose others to the risk of suffering it
What does R v Sturm say about the definition of stupefy?
To stupefy means to cause an effect on the mind or nervous system of a person which really seriously interferes with that persons mental or physical ability to act in any way which might hinder an intended crime
What does R v Crossan state in relation to resistance?
Incapable of resistance includes a powerlessness of the will as well as a physical incapacity
What are the elements of abduction?
- Unlawfully
- Takes away OR detains
- A person
- Without their consent OR with consent obtained by fraud or duress
- With intent to go through a form of marriage or civil union OR have sexual connection with the person OR cause the person to go through a form of marriage or civil union or to have sexual connection with some other person
What does R v Wellard state?
The essence of the offence of kidnapping is the “deprivation of liberty coupled with a carrying away from the place where the victim wants to be”
What does R v Pryce say about detaining?
Detaining is an active concept meaning to “keep in confinement or custody”. This is to be contrasted with the passive concept of “harbouring” or mere failure to hand over
Can a young person (person under 16) consent to being taken away or detained?
No, not for the purposes of Section 208 and 209 of the Crimes Act 1961 (abduction and kidnapping)
What does R v Mohi state?
The offence is committed at the time of taking away, so long is there is, at that moment, the necessary intent. It has never been regarded as necessary… that the Crown should show the intent was carried out (e.g. a marriage or sexual assault occurred)
What are the elements of kidnapping?
- Unlawfully
- Takes away OR detains
- A person
- Without their consent OR with consent obtained by fraud or duress
- With intent to hold him or her for ransom or to service OR cause him or her to be confined or imprisoned OR cause him or her to be sent or taken out of New Zealand
What are the elements of abduction of a young person under 16?
- With intent to deprive a parent or guardian or other person having the lawful care or charge of a young person of the possession of the young person
- Unlawfully
- Takes OR entices away OR detains
- The young person
Does a person abducting a young person need to intend to permanently deprive the parent or caregiver?
No - R v Chartrand states that “whether the defendant may have had an innocent motive, or intended to interfere with possession for a very short period of time is besides the point”
What are the two elements of possession?
R v Cox
- Physical element - physical custody or control
- Mental element - combination of knowledge and intention. E.g. offender knew the item was on him and intended to use it
What are the elements of abduction of a young person under 16 (receives)?
- Receives
- A young person
- Knowing that he or she has been unlawfully taken or enticed away or detained with intent to deprive a parent or guardian or other person having the lawful care or charge of him or her of the possession of him or her
What are the elements of robbery?
- Theft
- Accompanied by violence OR accompanied by threats of violence
- To any person OR to any property
- Used to extort the property stolen OR to prevent or overcome resistance to it’s being stolen
When is robbery complete?
R v Lapier
Robbery is complete the instant the property is taken, even if possession by the thief is only momentary
Is claim of right a defence to robbery?
R v Skivington
Yes
If a robber immediately returns the stolen goods, is this still robbery?
R v Peat
Yes
What does R v Maihi state about ‘accompanied by violence’?
There must be a connection between the act of stealing and the threat of violence. Both must be present.
However, this does not mean the act of stealing and the threat of violence be contemporaneous
What does Peneha v Police state about violence?
It is sufficient that “the actions of the defendant forcibly interfere with personal freedom of amount to forcible powerful or violent action or motion producing a very marked or powerful effect tending to cause bodily injury or discomfort”
What does R v Broughton say about the threat of violence?
A threat of violence is “the manifestation of an intention to inflict violence unless the money or property is handed over. The threat may be direct or veiled. It may be conveyed by words or conduct or both”
What does R v Pacholko state?
The actual presence or absence of fear on the part of the victim is irrelevant. It is the conduct of the accused which has to be assessed rather than the strength of the nerves of the person threatened.
What are the elements of aggravated robbery (GBH)?
- Robs
- Any person
- At the time of, or immediately before or immediately after, the robbery, causes GBH
- To any person
Can a person be charged with robbery if they inflict violence on a person who was not the intended target of the theft?
R v Wells
Yes - there is no requirement that the harm be inflicted on the victim of the robbery, thus infliction of harm to a person seeking to prevent the escape of the offender would come within the section
What are the elements of aggravated robbery (together with)?
- Being together with any other person or persons
- Robs
- Any person
What does R v Joyce state about ‘together with’?
“The Crown must establish that at least two persons were physically present at the time the robbery was committed or the assault occurred”
What does R v Galey state about ‘together with’?
“Being together” in the context of aggravated robbery involves “two or more persons having the common intention to use their combined force, either in any event or as circumstances might require, directly in the perpetration of the crime”
What are the elements of aggravated robbery (weapon)?
- Being armed with any
- Offensive weapon OR instrument OR any thing appearing to be such a weapon or instrument
- Robs
- Any person
What does R v Bentham state about a weapon?
“What is possessed must under the definition be a thing. A person’s hand or fingers are not a thing”
What are the elements of assault with intent to rob (GBH)?
- With intent to rob any person
- Causes grievous bodily harm
- To that person or any other person
What are the elements of assault with intent to rob (weapon)?
- With intent to rob any person
- Being armed with any offensive weapon or instrument OR anything appearing to be such a weapon or instrument
- Assaults that person or any other person
What are the elements of assault with intent to rob (together with)?
- With intent to rob any person
- Being together with any other person or persons
- Assaults that person or any other person
What are the elements of assaults with intent to rob?
- Assaults
- Any person
- With intent to rob that person or any other person
