Assault a person thereby occasioning them actual bodily harm

Points to prove

• 1. The defendant assaulted the victim — committed an assault or battery: intentionally or recklessly caused the victim to apprehend immediate unlawful violence, or intentionally or recklessly applied unlawful force to the victim
• 2. The assault was unlawful — not consented to in law and not justified (e.g. by self-defence)
• 3. The assault occasioned (caused) actual bodily harm to the victim — harm need not be serious but must be more than transient or trifling; includes recognised psychiatric injury (R v Ireland; R v Burstow)
• 4. No mens rea is required as to the harm itself — the mental element for the assault or battery suffices (R v Savage; R v Parmenter)

Defences

• Self-defence / defence of another / prevention of crime — common law and s 76 Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 (reasonable force)
• Consent — only within recognised lawful categories (e.g. surgery, properly conducted sport); consent is no defence to the deliberate infliction of actual bodily harm outside those categories (R v Brown)
• Note: reasonable punishment of a child is NOT a defence to a s 47 charge (Children Act 2004, s 58)

Mode of trial & maximum penalty

Either way — Summary: 6/12 months' imprisonment and/or a fine; Indictment: 5 years' imprisonment

Sources

• www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Vict/24-25/100/section/47
• www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/offences-against-person-incorporat