Non-fatal offences against the person

CRL.04 — Non-fatal offences against the person

A hierarchy of five offences. Learn the actus reus (AR), mens rea (MR), and where each sits.

The offences

Assault (common assault) — summary, s.39 CJA 1988.

• AR: causing the victim to apprehend immediate unlawful personal violence.
• MR: intention or recklessness (Cunningham subjective recklessness) as to causing that apprehension.
• Words alone can be assault (Ireland); words can also negate one (Tuberville v Savage). No touching needed.

Battery — summary, s.39 CJA 1988.

• AR: infliction of unlawful force on another (any unwanted touching, however slight — Collins v Wilcock).
• MR: intention or recklessness as to applying unlawful force. Can be indirect (DPP v K — acid in hand dryer).

ABH — s.47 OAPA 1861, either-way.

• AR: assault or battery that causes actual bodily harm (harm more than trivial; includes psychiatric injury — Chan-Fook; cutting hair — DPP v Smith).
• MR: only the MR for the assault/battery. No need to foresee the ABH (Roberts, Savage). This is the classic trap.

s.20 GBH/wounding — OAPA 1861, either-way.

• AR: unlawfully wound (break both layers of skin — JCC v Eisenhower) or inflict GBH (really serious harm — DPP v Smith; Saunders).
• MR: intention or recklessness as to some harm — not the full extent (Mowatt, Parmenter).

s.18 GBH/wounding with intent — OAPA 1861, indictable only.

• AR: as s.20.
• MR: intention to cause GBH (recklessness will not do), or intention to resist/prevent lawful arrest. Specific-intent offence.

Common traps and distinctions

• s.20 vs s.18 is the MR: s.18 needs intent to do GBH; recklessness can never satisfy s.18.
• A wound needs broken skin — internal bleeding/bruising is not a wound (but may be GBH).
• Foresight rule differs by offence: ABH and s.20 need no foresight of the level of harm; only s.18 demands intent.
• Consent (general rule Brown): valid only for recognised exceptions — properly conducted sport, surgery, tattooing/piercing, horseplay (Jones), reasonable chastisement (now abolished in Scotland/Wales; limited in England). Consent is generally no defence to ABH or worse.
• Transmission/transferred malice: MR transfers between victims, not between offence types.
• A single act can be charged at the level the harm and MR support — pick the highest the facts prove.