JCC (A Minor) v Eisenhower
A wound requires a break in the continuity of the whole skin, so internal bleeding is not a wound.
Facts
JCC, a youth, fired an air gun at a group of people, and a pellet hit the victim near his eye. The pellet caused a bruise and the rupture of a blood vessel in the eye, causing internal bleeding, but did not break the outer skin. JCC was convicted of unlawfully and maliciously wounding under section 20 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861.
Legal principle
The Divisional Court quashed the conviction. Robert Goff LJ said that a wound, for the purposes of the 1861 Act, requires a break in the continuity of the whole skin, including both the outer and inner layers. Internal bleeding caused by the rupture of a blood vessel, without a break in the skin, is not a wound. A cut on the inside of the lip or cheek, where there is a break in the mucous membrane, may however be a wound.
Related cases on non-fatal offences against the person
- Collins v Wilcock [1984] 1 WLR 1172
- Director of Public Prosecutions v Smith (Michael) [2006] EWHC 94 (Admin), [2006] 1 WLR 1571
- Logdon v Director of Public Prosecutions [1976] Crim LR 121
- R v BM [2018] EWCA Crim 560
- R v Bollom [2003] EWCA Crim 2846, [2004] 2 Cr App R 6
- R v Brown [1994] 1 AC 212
- R v Chan-Fook [1994] 1 WLR 689
- R v Constanza [1997] 2 Cr App R 492
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This summary is for study and revision and is not legal advice. Although our case summaries are checked for accuracy, we do not guarantee that they are free from errors or omissions. Always read the full judgment for the court's reasoning.
