Chapter 7: Non-Fatal Offences Against a Person

Non-Fatal Offences Against a Person

• Offences in this category are defined by the degree of harm suffered by the victim (V).
• The category can be presented as an imperfect ladder, with the most serious offences at the top and the least serious at the bottom.

Assault and Battery

• Assault and battery are the least serious non-fatal offences against a person.
• These offences are not defined in statute, but in common law.
• The power to charge assault and battery derives from section 39 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988.
• Assault involves any conduct that intentionally or recklessly causes V to apprehend imminent unlawful personal violence.
• Battery is any conduct that intentionally or recklessly inflicts unlawful personal violence upon V.
• The actus reus of assault does not require physical contact with V, but rather causing V to apprehend or believe that they are about to suffer personal violence.
• The actus reus of battery requires physical contact with V.

Inflicting Grievous Bodily Harm (GBH)

• GBH is more serious than actual bodily harm (ABH) and requires a higher level of harm to V.
• The House of Lords has interpreted GBH to mean serious bodily harm.
• GBH does not require injury to be permanent or life-threatening.
• Inflicting GBH requires D's conduct to have caused the harm to V, applying the standard rules of causation.

Malicious Intent and Causation

• Malicious intent requires D to intend or foresee the possibility of causing V bodily harm.
• Intent or foresight of some harm is necessary for liability, but D does not need to intend or foresee the full extent of the harm caused.
• Causation requires D's conduct to have caused the harm to V.

Wounding with Intent to Cause GBH

• Section 18 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 criminalises D who, with intent to cause GBH, maliciously wounds V.
• The actus reus of section 18 is identical to that of section 20.
• The mens rea of section 18 requires intention to cause GBH, and an intention to resist lawful apprehension.

Consent and Non-Fatal Offences

• V may lack capacity to consent due to mental health conditions, learning disabilities, infancy, or temporary factors like intoxication.
• Informed consent requires V to be aware of what the conduct entails before they can exercise their capacity and make a decision.
• The level of knowledge required for effective consent varies depending on the degree of harm to which V is consenting.
• The courts consider three categories of case when evaluating consent:
  • No knowledge of deception
  • Knowledge but no deception
  • Knowledge and deception

Non-Fatal Offences and Sport

• Sports injuries can be exempt from liability if the sport is legally recognised, and the injury results from an unrecognised sport.
• The courts examine the rules of the sport to determine whether the injury was a result of the game.

Non-Fatal Offences and Sexual Pleasure

• The courts have struggled to maintain a clear approach to consent in the context of sexual pleasure.
• New legislation provides that V cannot consent to serious harm for reasons of sexual gratification alone.
• The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 confirms that consent to the infliction of serious harm for sexual gratification is not a defence.

Belief in Consent

• D has a defence if they believed that V provided valid consent.
• D's belief in V's consent must be consistent with the legal requirements of being informed, effective, and within a recognised category.

Conduct-Focused Offences

• These offences are not concerned with the degree of harm suffered by V, but rather with the manner in which the harm is inflicted.
• Examples of conduct-focused offences include non-fatal strangulation and suffocation, harassment, and poisoning.

Non-Fatal Strangulation and Suffocation

• The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 introduced a new offence of non-fatal strangulation and suffocation.

• The defence of consent is available, but only if V suffers serious harm as a result, and D did not intend or foresee the possibility of causing V serious harm.### Maliciously in Section 18 Liability

• D's malicious conduct requires foresight of bodily harm, possibly even GBH

• Intent to prevent apprehension means D must foresee possibility of GBH before s18 liability is established

Alternative Verdicts for Sections 47, 20, and 18

• A charge under s18 allows alternative verdicts for s20 or s47 if essential elements of s18 liability are unproven
• Analysis of liability typically focuses on the most serious potential offence before considering less serious alternatives

Defences to Sections 47, 20, and 18

• Specific defences of consent or belief in consent can remove liability for s47, 18, and 20
• These defences are not applied in the same way as assault/battery
• Additional elements are required for defences to be legally effective for more serious offences

Defences to the Base Offence for Section 47

• A defence to the base offence of assault or battery can remove liability for s47
• If D foresees the risk of causing ABH, they may not be able to rely on an effective defence to the base offence

Consent to More Serious Offences

• Consent can be a valid defence to offences under s47, 20, and 18
• In addition to standard consent requirements, the conduct must come within a recognized category (e.g., surgery, sports, horseplay)
• The recognized categories have evolved as a matter of public policy

Surgery as a Recognized Category

• Surgery is a straightforward example where V can provide valid consent to what might otherwise constitute a serious offence
• Specific statutory exceptions exist, such as criminalizing consensual virginity testing under the Health Care Act 2022

Battery

• Battery requires physical contact with V, which can be direct or indirect (e.g., throwing objects, spitting, or causing contact through a third party)
• Battery can also be committed by omission, but only if D has a duty to act and breaches that duty

Mens Rea of Battery

• The mens rea of battery requires intention or recklessness as to causing the result (unlawful force to V's body)
• D must also perform the conduct voluntarily, knowing that V is a person