Offences Against the Person

Cases of assault appear frequently before the court.

In today's article, I give a brief summary of the four most common types of assault. Starting in order of increasing severity, these are:

• Common assault or assault by beating;
• Assault occasioning actual bodily harm;
• Malicious wounding or grievous bodily harm;
• Wounding or grievous bodily harm with intent.

I shall address each of these offences in turn, but before I do it might be worth reminding readers of my previous comments in relation to charge deflation. For reasons that aren't always apparent, the Crown often applies a lesser charge to an assault than the evidence suggests is justified.

Common assault or assault by beating:

These are offences under section 39 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, which have a maximum sentence of 26 weeks' custody and/or an unlimited fine.

There are two different modes of assault here: common assault, which is sometimes referred to as technical or simple assault; and assault by beating, which is often referred to as battery.

Common assault is the immediate apprehension of unlawful physical force - e.g. the fear a person might have that they are imminently to experience unlawful physical force. They must apprehend immediate unlawful force, so an equivocal threat like "if you don't do X, I'll do Y" doesn't normally cut the mustard. It may, of course, constitute a different offence.

Assault by beating is the unlawful application of physical force - e.g. the actual physical contact between the offender and the victim. This can either be direct, as with a punch landing, or indirect, as with a stone being thrown and hitting someone. The victim does not need to suffer injury, but if they do it is of a very minor, temporary nature - reddening of the skin, a small bruise or scratch.

In terms of mens rea, these offences require the offender to act intentionally or recklessly.

Quite often common assault and assault by beating come hand in hand, but not always. If a victim was pushed suddenly and unexpectedly from behind they may not have apprehended the immediate use of unlawful physical force, in which case the offender would only be guilty of assault by beating.

The consent of the victim is always a defence against charges of common assault or assault by beating.

Assault occasioning actual bodily harm:

This is an offence under section 47 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, which has a maximum sentence of 26 weeks' custody and/or an unlimited fine on summary conviction; 5 years' custody on conviction on indictment.

Unlike assault by beating it has an actus reus of causing actual bodily harm - e.g. physical or mental harm to the victim that is more than trifling and transient.

In terms of mens rea, assault occasioning actual bodily harm requires the offender to act intentionally or recklessly as to common assault or assault by beating.

The offender does not need to intend or foresee that any actual bodily harm might occur.

The consent of the victim is only a defence in certain limited circumstances.

Malicious wounding or grievous bodily harm:

These are offences under section 20 of the Offences Against the Person, which have a maximum sentence of 26 weeks' custody on summary conviction; 5 years' custody on conviction on indictment.

There are two different possible modes of assault here: wounding and grievous bodily harm.

In physiological terms wounding involves an injury that breaks the continuity of the skin to a depth below the epidermis. In practical terms that means you see blood. Wounding does not encompass internal bleeding or extensive bruising, which may fall within the scope of grievous bodily harm instead.

Grievous bodily harm means really serious harm. Unfortunately the definition hasn't been nailed down any more firmly than that, so in cases of doubt it is for the jury to decide. Grievous bodily harm need not be permanent, but it is certainly debilitating.

In terms of mens rea, malicious wounding or grievous bodily harm requires the offender to act intentionally or recklessly as to assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

This means that the offender must intend to cause actual bodily harm, or foresee it as a possible outcome of their assault.

The consent of the victim is only a defence in certain limited circumstances.

Wounding or grievous bodily harm with intent:

These are offences under section 18 of the Offences Against the Person, which have a maximum sentence of life imprisonment on conviction on indictment.

Again there are two different possible modes of assault: wounding and grievous bodily harm.

These have the same meaning as described in the previous section.

In terms of mens rea, wounding or grievous bodily harm with intent requires the specific intent of the offender to achieve either of those outcomes.

To complicate matters further, there is an alternative version of these offences that can be perpetrated against a person who is in the process of lawfully apprehending or detaining someone else.

In that situation, in terms of mens rea the offender must intend to resist or prevent the lawful apprehension AND intend or be reckless as to causing actual bodily harm to the person who is lawfully apprehending or detaining.

The consent of the victim is only a defence in certain limited circumstances.

Summary:

As there is a bit of overlap between these different assault offences, I have summarised the key ideas in the following table.