VIOLENCE - ROBBERY

Question 1

Name key case laws for robbery

Answer 1

R v Lapier (robbery is complete upon taking)
R v Skivington (theft is an element of robbery)
R v Cox (2 elements to possession)
R v Maihi (act of stealing and threats must be commented)
R v McArthur (bodily harm)
Peneha v Police (actions of defendant must interfere with victims safety or cause injury)
R v Broughton (threat of violence is the manifestation of intent to inflict violence)
DPP v Smith (GBH def)
R v Galey (being together means 2 or more people sharing common intention)
R v Joyce (being together means being physically present at the of offence)

Question 2

What are the 8 robbery liabilities to remember

Answer 2

Robbery
234(1)

Aggravated Robbery
235(a) - and causing GBH
235(b) - being together with
235(c) - carrying offensive weapon

Assault with Intent to Rob 
236(1)(a) - and causing GBH
236(1)(b) - being armed with 
236(1)(c) - being together with 
236(2) -

Question 3

Robbery is theft accompanied by violence. For the violence component, what 3 things must prosecution prove?

Answer 3

• connection between the violence and the stealing of the property
• the defendant held an intent to steal the property at the time the violence or threats were used
• the violence or threats were used for the purpose of extorting the property to be stolen, or preventing or overcoming resistance to it’s being stolen

Question 4

Define stupefies

Answer 4

To stupefy means to cause an effect on the mind or nervous system of a person. This interferes with their mental or physical ability to act
R v Sturm

Question 5

Define the two fold test that must be proven for recklessness

Answer 5

It must be proved not only that the defendant was aware of the risk and proceeded regardless (a subjective test), but also that it was unreasonable for him to do so (an objective test).

Question 6

R v Joyce

Answer 6

Being together require two or more people acting (physically present together) in the commission of an offence

(being together with)

Question 7

R v Galey

Answer 7

Being together in the context of section 235(b) 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.

Question 8

R v Bentham

Answer 8

The weapon possessed must under definition be a thing. A person’s hands or fingers are not a thing.

(anything appearing to be such)

Question 9

Define intent

Answer 9

Intent has two parts; an intention to commit the act and secondly, an intention to get a specific result.

Question 10

R v Maihi

Answer 10

It is implicit in ‘accompany’ that there must be a nexus between the act of stealing and a threat of violence. Both must be present. However the term does not require that the act of stealing and the threat of violence be contemporaneous

(Accompanied by threats of violence)

Question 11

Peneha v Police

Answer 11

It is sufficient that the actions of the defendant forcibly interfere with personal freedom or amount to forcible powerful or violent action or motion producing a very marked or powerful effect tending to cause bodily injury or discomfort.

(Violence)

Question 12

R v Broughton

Answer 12

A threat of violence is the manifestation of an intention to inflict violence unless the money or property be handed over. The threat may be direct or veiled. May be conveyed by words or conduct.

(Threats of violence)

Question 13

R v Peat

Answer 13

As in the case of theft, the immediate return of goods by the robber does not purge the offence.

(taking)

Question 14

R v Wells

Answer 14

No requirement the harm be inflicted on the victim of the robbery.

(To any person)

Question 15

R v Skivington

Answer 15

Larceny or theft is an ingredient of robbery, and if the honest belief that a man has a claim of right is a defence to larceny, then it negatives one of the elements in the offence of robbery, without proof of which the full offence is not made out

(claim of right)

Question 16

R v Lapier

Answer 16

Robbery is complete the instant the property is taken, even if possession by the thief is only momentary

(taking)

Question 17

R v Cox

possession

Answer 17

Possession involves two elements. The first, the physical element, is actual or potential physical custody or control. The second, the mental element, is a combination of knowledge and intention: knowledge in the sense of an awareness by the accused that the substance is in his possession; and an intention to exercise possession.

Actual possession arises where a thing in question is in a persons physical custody or control. It may be actual or potential control.

(possession)

Question 18

R v Crossan

Answer 18

‘Incapable of resistance’ includes a powerlessness of the will as well as a physical incapacity

(incapable of resistance)

Question 19

R v Sturm

Answer 19

To 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

(stupefy)

Question 20

R v Tihi

Answer 20

In addition to one of the specific intents outlined in paragraphs (a), (b), (c), it must be shown the offender either meant to cause the specified harm or foresaw that the actions undertaken by him were likely to expose others to risk of suffering it

(two i’s - two intents)

Question 21

R v Wati

Answer 21

There must be proof of the commission or attempted commission of a crime either by the person committing the assault or by the person whose arrest or flight he intends to avoid or facilitate

Question 22

R v Tipple

Answer 22

Recklessness requires that the offender know of or have an appreciation of the risk. “A deliberate decision to run the risk”

(recklessness)

Question 23

R v Cameron

Answer 23

Recklessness is established if:

A) The Defendant recognised that there was a real possibility that their actions would bring the proscribed result and the circumstances existed.
B) having regard to that risk, their actions were unreasonable.

(recklessness test)

Question 24

R v McArthur

Answer 24

Bodily harm includes any hurt or injury that interferes with the health or comfort of the victim. More than merely transitory and trifling

(bodily harm)

Question 25

R v Rapana and Murray

Answer 25

The word ‘disfigure’ covers not only permanent damage but also temporary damage

(disfigurement)

Question 26

Define claim of right

Answer 26

Section 2, CA1961

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.

Question 27

Define the following terms

• extort
• prevent
• overcome resistance

Answer 27

• extort
  obtain by coercion or intimidation
• prevent
  to keep from happening
• overcome resistance
  to defeat, prevail over, to get the better of in a conflict

Question 28

What are the elements of theft

Answer 28

Section 219(1), CA1961

• Dishonestly
• Without claim of right
• Takes
• Any property
• With intent to deprive the owner permanently of that property

Question 29

Define assault

Answer 29

Section 2, CA1961

Assault means 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, present ability to effect his or her purpose

Question 30

If the court is satisfied that the defendant acted with claim of right, then there is no theft and therefore no robbery.
What case law refers?

Answer 30

R v Skivington

Question 31

Theft is complete the moment an item is —- with the —– to steal it

Answer 31

Theft is complete the moment an item is moved with the intent to steal it

R v Lapier - theft is complete at the moment of taking

Return of the property does not purge the offending (R v Peat)

Question 32

Define property

Answer 32

Section 2, CA1961

Includes real or personal property, and any estate or interest in any real or personal property, money, electricity, and any debt, and anything in action, and any other right or interest

Question 33

To prove robbery, the Prosecution must prove there was a connection between what two things?

Answer 33

The prosecution must prove a connection between the violence/threats and the stealing of the property

It must be shown that the defendant not only had the necessary intent to steal the property at the time they used violence/threats, but that that the violence/threats were used for the purpose of extorting the property

R v Maihi - the act of threats must be linked

Question 34

For robbery charges, what level of violence must be proven

Answer 34

The violence must be more than a technical assault, more than a minimal degree of force but need not inflict bodily injury - the force must be sufficient to constitute ‘violence’

Peneha v Police

Question 35

Define GBH

Answer 35

GBH can be defined simply as harm that is really serious

DPP v Smith
‘Bodily harm’ needs no explanation and ‘grievous’ means no more and no less than ‘really serious’

Grievous refers to the degree of harm, rather than how the harm is caused or what sort of harm it is. It need not be life threatening or permanent harm