Knowledge Summary

• The defendant (D) may have committed assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH) contrary to s.47 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861.
• Actus Reus - assault, occasions, actual bodily harm

  1. Assault - assault or battery
  2. Occasions - assault/battery must occasion (cause) the ABH
  3. ABH (Chan-Fook):

  'actual' - injury not so trivial as to be 'wholly insignificant'

  'bodily' - not limited to the harm of the skin, flesh and bones but includes organs, nervous system and brain, can include psychiatric injury not mere emotions.

  'harm' - injury, ABH includes minor psychological injuries e.g. headaches and stress (Cox), cutting off ponytail (Smith) and brief unconsciousness (T v DPP)
• Causation

  1. Factual - 'but for' test (White)
  2. Legal - de minimis 'more than a minor cause' (Kimsey), operating and substantial cause 'most to blame' (Smith)
  3. New Intervening Acts - v's own actions (Roberts), v's self neglect (Wallace), actions of a 3rd party (Pagett), palpably wrong medical treatment (Jordan/Smith), thin skull rule (Blaue)
• Mens Rea - Mr of the assault or battery

  1. Intention (Mohan/Savage)
  2. Recklessness (Cunningham/Roberts)
  3. Does not require MR as to ABH but to the asault/battery
• Sentence

  Triable-either-way offence

  Can face up to 5 years imprisonment