Ss20 and 18

 Offences Against the Person Act 1861  The most grave of the non-fatal offences  s20 is a triable either way offence  s18 is indictable

“Whosoever shall unlawfully and maliciously wound or inflict any grievous bodily harm upon any person…shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to imprisonment for not more than 5 years.”

 Can be committed one of two ways: ◦ Unlawful wounding; or ◦ Unlawful infliction of grievous bodily harm.  Wound or GBH? Wound or GBH?

 A break in both layers of the skin (internal bleeding will not suffice)  JCC v Eisenhower must be a “break in the continuity of the skin”  Scratches, burns, broken bones are all not wounds  “Skin” includes the inner lining of cheeks and lips. Can include a nosebleed

 Saunders- “serious” harm  Psychiatric harm can be GBH provided that it is “serious”- Burstow.

Serious broken bones Injuries requiring lengthy medical treatment Permanent disability or disfigurement

R v Bollam-ruled that the victim being elderly or a young child can make injuries more serious Brown and Stratton- if the victim suffers more than one injury which taken as a whole amount to serious harm this can be GBH

 Has the same meaning as cause(Lord Hope)  No need for there to be an assault or battery- Wilson which gave a broader interpretation than in Clarence (1888)

 Transmission of STIs  Removing the requirement for a common assault led to the development of biological GBH in R v Dica (2004)  Also R v Mabanda (2011) and R v Golding- Herpes(2011)

 Must be done “maliciously” –s20  Confirmed in Cunningham that this merely means intentionally or subjectively recklessly  R v Mowatt Only need to foresee that some harm might occur (Lord Diplock)  (all three parts must be discussed for MR of s20)

“Whosoever shall unlawfully and maliciously …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 of any person…shall be liable to imprisonment for life.”

 Considered to be much more serious than s20- even though the level of harm is the same  Indictable offence  Max. sentence is life imprisonment

 Exactly the same as for s20 for the meanings of wound and GBH  Also covers unlawfully resisting arrest

 Beware of evil law teachers!! Mwhahaha!

 Vital difference  Only intention will suffice  Not enough to intend some harm, must intend to cause serious harm- Nedrick  Any wounding must be intended to cause serious harm

 Need to see real application of MR for this offence  Use of a weapon or multiple attacks is a clue  Direct or oblique intent will suffice E.g. Virtual certainty  You would only discuss this for s18, not the lesser non-fatal offences

 Turn to January 2008 Farrah scenario in your yellow booklets.  You have 20 minutes to write as much as an answer to this scenario as you can.  Do this in silence, don’t ask questions treat this as a mini mock situation

The actus reus for s47 Offences Against the Person Act 1861 is assault occasioning ___________ bodily harm. The definition of assault is the same as for ______ assault and can therefore be caused by an assault or _________. R v Roberts confirmed that the normal rules of causation apply and in this case the causal chain was not broken as the victim’s actions were reasonably _________. The harm can be minor but R v ______ ruled that it had to be more than ‘transient and trifling.’ R v Chan Fook held that ______ harm can be actual bodily harm provided that it is an identifiable clinical condition.

Encouraged by their friends whilst they were all being rowdy, Henry and Jack took part in a ‘boxing match’ in which each had one glove and both wore blindfolds. During the match, Henry had struck Jack twice in the face, leaving him with red marks and a small swelling under his eye. Jack then took out a knife which he had hidden in his pocket. Before anyone could intervene, Jack lashed out in Henry’s direction but missed him and, instead, inflicted a deep cut on the arm of Karim, one of the friends who was watching. The cut required a large number of stitches.

Andy is well known in his area for robbing vulnerable grannies of their pensions. Whilst walking through town one day Andy was identified and chased by members of the public, including Chris and Denzil. Andy hit Chris and gave him a black eye. Denzil then wrestled Andy to the ground and Andy’s elbow ligaments were badly damaged in the struggle. Whilst Andy was sitting on the floor nursing his injury, Chris caught him with a swinging blow to the face. Chris was wearing a ring which ripped across Andy’s cheek, causing it to bleed heavily. Discuss the criminal liability of Andy, Chris and Denzil arising out of the incidents during the chase.