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Non-Fatal Offences
Offences Against Person Act 1861(herein after OAPA 1861)

Grievous Bodily Harm(GBH) - S18 OAPA 1861
Sentencing:maximum life imprisonment
Wounding/GBH - S20 OAPA 1861
Sentencing:max
...
5 yrs
Battery - S39 Criminal Justice Act 1988
Sentencing: 6 months imp
...
,fine or both

Wounding or causing GBH with intent
By S18 of the OAPA it is an offence to:
unlawfully and maliciously by any means whatsoever wound or cause grievous bodily harm
to any person,with intent to do some grievous bodily harm to any person, or with intent to
resist or prevent(arrest)
...

S18 will be charged when the evidence will not support an MR of attempted murder , intention
to kill
...
unlawfully wounded or caused grievous bodily harm to any person
a)Wounding
-requires injury which breaks the skin [R v Smith]
-If skin is broken,and there was bleeding ( Lord Lyndhurst , Moriarty v Brooks )
-skin contains two layers,the dermis and epidermis
...

-an abrasion, burn or scratch does not amount to a wound
...
The external skin was unbroken,but the lining
membrane of the urethra was ruptured causing a small loss of blood into the urine
...


b)Causing grievous bodily harm

- grievous bodily harm was defined as ‘really serious harm’ DPP v Smith
...

- R v Hicks(2007)- serious harm include broken limbs, significant loss of consciousness and
damage to internal organ
- the CPS changing standard for both GBH (s18,20) includes:
(1)Injuries resulting in permanent disability ,loss of sensory function or significant visible
disfigurement
...


- R v Bollom - whether harm was serious or not, the jury should take into account the age and
state of physical fitness of the victim,as well as the extent and nature of the injury
...

- R v Mohammed Dica - sexually transmitted diseases(e
...
to cause GBH/ int
...
not only intended to do what they did but they specifically intended to cause V really serious
injury [Belfon(1976)]
- An intention to wound is not same with intention to cause GBH
Eg: R v Taylor - A stabbed V with a kitchen knife
...
On this basis,although the int
...
to cause GBH also made out,therefore (s20
offence)
- A jury which is not convinced that def
...
20 remain
...


(b)Maliciously
- the wound or causing GBH must be done ‘maliciously’ ( R v Mowatt)
- ‘maliciously’ bear the subjective meaning of recklessness(Cunningham) ,jury should have
directed to consider whether the def
...
(R v Morrison)
- Facts:the D,on being arrested and seized by a police officer,dived through a window pane
carrying the officer with him,causing wound on her face
...
20 of the OAPA, an offence is committed where D:
unlawfully and maliciously wound(s) or inflict(s) any grievous bodily harm,upon any other
person,either with or without any weapon or instrument
...
20 is a kind of offence whereby the case can either be tried at Magistrate Court or alternatively at
Crown Court
...
is allow to make a decision ,the Magistrate must advised the
def on 2 matters
...
chooses Magistrate Court, he will not tried by his peers
...
12months),if the Magistrates find the def, guilty
but the Magistrate feels at he sentencing jurisdiction on him is insufficient for a proper
sentencing, the Magistrate can always remit the case to a higher court only for the purpose
of sentencing
...

- Sentencing:maximum 5 years
AR:wounding/inflicting GBH
a) Infliction
- infliction of GBH are narrower than causing GBH
- R v Clarence - Husband who gave gonorrhoea to his wife during consensual intercourse was not
guilty under s
...
He had not assaulted
her ,as she consented to the intercourse
...
20 should be at the very least form of direct contact between perpetrator
and victim which delivered harm to the victim
...
Either:(i)by way of an assault (e
...
some form of direct attack),or
(ii)by doing something,intentionally,which ,thought it is not in itself a direct application of
force to the body of the victim,it does directly result in force being indirectly applied
violently to the body of the victim so that he suffers GBH
...
She locked herself in her flat and
refused access to D as he had previously assaulted her
...

The offence made out even if the def
...

- R v Martin(1980),held that a person,as a practical joke ,had barred the doors and turned the
lights out towards the end of a theatre performance,causing people to panic and injure themselves
could be guilty of s
...

- HL approved the statement of Supreme Court of Victoria in Salisbury(1976) that although it was
not necessary to show that injury issued out of an assault perpetrated by the inflicter,it was

-

necessary to show harm was sustained as a result of the victim receiving a blow or other
application of force to the body
...
(e
...
giving false set of direction to a blind person)
inflicting requires a positive act,rather than an omission,and also a blow/impact of some
sort(‘direct application of force to the body of the victim’

b)Infliction of psychiatric injury
-In Burstow, the HL extended the concept of GBH to include serious psychiatric illness
...

Clarence was disapproved in this case
...

- In Mandair(1994),the HL held that a jury which is not convinced that the accused has the
necessary intention to cause GBH for liability under s
...
20
...
must intend or foresee(Cunningham recklessness)that he or she may cause some kind
of harm,albeit minor harm
...

Intention or foresight required must be as to the ‘particular kind of harm that in fact was done’
In DPP v Parmenter(1991),the HL approved Mowatt,concluding that the prosecution need prove
only that D intended or foresaw the risk of some physical harm
...
47 OAPA 1861:
whosoever shall be convicted upon an indictment of any assault occasioning actual bodily
harm shall be liable…to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding five years
...
must commit an assault or battery which causes the victim to suffer actual bodily
harm
...


- Fagan v MPC , the HL set the definition of assault as:
“an assault is committed where the defendant intentionally or recklessly causes the
victim to apprehend immediate unlawful personal violence
...
He had
entered the garden and went up to the window and peered through a gap in the curtain
...
He was charged
with an offence under the Vagrancy Act 1864 which required proof of an assault
...
He accepted that she was frightened but that she could not
have been frightened of personal violence as he was outside the house and she was inside
...

(b)Actual Bodily Harm
- defined by Lynsey J in Miller as any ‘hurt or injury need not to be serious or ,indeed,permanent
but it must be more than transient of trifling and includes any injury that is calculated to interfere
with health and comfort of the victim’
...
This possibility was rejected by Chan-Fook(1994)
...

- Any injury which is not trivial one is theoretically ‘bodily harm’
...
47 is assault occasioning actual bodily harm
...
Fearing sexual
attack , V jumped out of the car,suffering injury
...
The CA upheld the conviction,that the wording of s
...
There must an
assault,which there was
...

Proving culpability requires proof of foresight but proving cause doesn’t
...
The glass
slipped and cut V
...
47
...
must intend or be reckless as to assault or battery
...

- It is NOT necessary to prove D intended or foresaw the injury
Assault
s
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- Venna(1975)
- Summary offences
- Sentencing:6 months imprisonment/fine/both
- Glanville Williams termed it as ‘psychic assault’
- it requires no physical contact with the person of the victim
AR:The def
...

(i)Act
- In Fagan v MPC,it was held that an assault cannot be committed in a way of an
omission
...

- Merely frightening a person by presence is not itself sufficient
...

- However,in another hand,words may negate an assault as well
...

- In R v Light(1857), it was held that the test was whether the words used negative the man’s
character of the acts so as to prevent as reasonable person from feeling the apprehension
...

- Read v Cocker- The def and his servant surrounded plaintiff tucking up their sleeves and
aprons and had threatened to break his neck if he does not leave the premises
...

- Blake v Barnard -“ I will blow your brains unless you…”
- Assault occurs even the def has no means of carrying out the threat,as in Stephens v Myers, it
wa held there would be an assault,where the def
...

R v Burstow

(ii) Apprehension
- apprehend means simply to ‘expect’,anticipating violence
- It does not specifically require fear,although fear will normally present
...
is sufficient
- In R v Lamb, apprehension not satisfied,there no assault
...
showed the victim a gun and announced he would keep the victim
hostage
...

(iii)Immediate
- It was not an assault if D threatened V with future harm [R v Halliday(1889)]
- In Smith v Chief Constable of Working (1983),D ,late on night,peered through the curtain of V’s
apartment
...
The CA ruled that it sufficed
the the actions of the D invoked a ‘fear of violence at some time not excluding the immediate
future’
- R v Lewis, the accused was guilty of assault even though his wife was in the other side of the
locked bedroom
...

- a threat use in self-defence will not amount to assault
...
intended or was reckless that the victim would apprehend imminent unlawful
force
...
Intention can be inferred using
Woollin guidelines
...
must have :
-

(i)actually foresaw the existence of risk; and
(ii) nonetheless gone on to take it
...
If there is any doubt in the jury’s mind as to
whether or not the D did foresee the risk then the D must be acquitted
...
Two
pellets hits a girl playing in the forecourt,whom D had not known was there
...
47 OAPA 1861)
...

To be guilty of assault occasioning ABH,the prosecution must prove both the bodily harm and
an assault that had caused it
...
39 CJA 1998
- Battery is defined as :

Any act by which D, intentionally and recklessly, inflicts (non-consensual) unlawful force
upon P
...
So, a person who fails to remove a log from a person
pinned underneath is not guilty of common assault
...
This refer to cases where the def’s
failure to act can be construed as continuing an earlier act such as Fagan v MPC
...

- Unconsented-to contact issuing from the ordinary rough and tumble of everyday life do not count
as batteries
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[Collins v Wilcock]
- This include taps on shoulder to attract another’s attention[Coward v Baddeley], slaps on the
back in greeting,jostling,knocking and bumping in queues, on trains,and while running for the
bus
...
However,whether it is a hostile touching ,is a question of fact
...
D then punched the police officer
...
Tapping D on the shoulder was a trivial interference with his autonomy and did
not take the officer outside the exercise of the duty
...

- DPP v Smith - cutting their hair also amount to battery
- Even,cutting [Day (1845)] and stroking [Thomas (1985)] a person’s clothes while on their
person will be battery as well
...
There
could be no dispute that if you touch a person’s clothes while he wearing them is equivalent to
touching
...

- In Scott v Shepherd(1773), a person who threw a lighted squib into a market place was held
liable for assault and battery even though the squib had passed through several person before it
exploded in the ultimate victim’s face
...

Parker LJ: in my judgement there can be no doubt that if a D places acid into a machine with intent
that it shall,when the next user switched the machine on, be ejected onto him and him harm, there is
an assault when the harm is done(meaning battery)
- In Haystead v Chief Constable of Derbyshire(2000),the def
...
The child sustained head injuries
...
’s
condition of assault against the child was upheld
...

- DPP v Santana Bermudez(2003),where a drug addict about to be searched by a policewoman
falsely told her that there was no syringe in his pocket
...
47 OAPA 1861 which requires proof of assault and battery
...
barred the exit to a theatre with an iron bar,turned off the lights and
shouted “fire”
...
The def
...

MR:The def intend or reckless as to touching or applying force to the victim

- An application of force can either be intentional or reckless [R v Venna ]
- The intention may be direct intent or oblique intent
...


- Recklessness in this context is Cunningham(subjective)foresight
...
39 CJA 1988(For battery) if the one the following injuries
were to occur:
- Grazes
- Scratches
- Abrasions
- Minor bruising
- Swellings
- Reddening of the skin
- Superficial cuts
- A ‘black eye’

Defence of Consent in relation to Assault and Battery

- Where a person freely consent to what would otherwise be common assault there is no offence
...
was charged under s
...

- Care must be taken with consents as limits have been placed on to the extent to which consent
will negate criminal liability
- Although,consent must be specific in that the victim must consent to the interference i question,it
does not need to expressly stated
...

a) The first issue whenever consent is raised is whether or not there is real consent
b) If consent is obtained by force or fear(duress),then there is no real consent and it cannot afford
as defence
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- The decision in R v Clarence that fraud only negates consent ,if it is to the nature of the act or the
identity of the person
...

A tattooist was guilty of common assault for tattooing youth 12 and 13 ,consent withstanding
...
Therefore , the court held that although there was,in essence,consent to the nature of the
act, there was no consent in relation to this quality
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- R v Mohammed Dica- Where a victim was not aware that the def
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It extended bodily harm to biological harm
...
g
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- R v Elbekkay(1995) - where the def was guilty of rape where he knew that the woman’s consent
was given under the mistaken belief that the def
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( She was under the effect
of sleepiness and drinks)
- Infliction of injury for sexual gratification [ R v Donovan]
Public policy and the defence of consent
- Assuming that there is real consent,then whether the consent is accepted as a good defences
really based on policy grounds
...
6 of 1980)(1981),Lord Lane CJ stated that it is not in public interest that
persons should cause bodily harm for no good reason
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The V suffers a bleeding nose and
bruised ac
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- The same reasoning is used in R v Brown
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However the consent given must be
in relation to he play and not the harm
- R v Jones(1987) : Schoolboys throw other pupils into the air
...
The CA held rough and undisciplined play,where there is no intention to cause
injury,should be added to he list of lawful activities
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The V suffered life
threatening burns on 35% of his body
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- Consent,express and implied ,is effective in relation to harms committed during sexual activity
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In subsequent trial for
manslaughter, D was held not to have committed assault and so coulee not be liable for m/s
- Boxing is a genuine exception to the rule that consent is ineffective in the case of deliberately
inflicted injuries
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- Games and Sports,Injuries inflicted in the course of contact sports such as football and rugby
will there fore be prima facie lawful unless deliberately inflicted,in which case consent,even
where it to be present,is ineffective
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