R v Mowatt
For section 20, the defendant need only foresee that some physical harm might result, not serious harm.
Facts
Mr Mowatt and another man were involved in a fight with a man who had accused them of stealing. Mr Mowatt punched and hit the man repeatedly, causing serious injuries. He was convicted of unlawfully and maliciously wounding under section 20 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861. He argued that the judge should have directed the jury that he had to foresee serious harm.
Legal principle
The Court of Appeal upheld the conviction. Diplock LJ said that, for section 20, it is enough that the defendant foresaw that some physical harm to some other person, albeit of a minor character, might result. It is not necessary that he should have foreseen that his act might cause physical harm of the gravity described in the section, that is a wound or serious physical injury. This interpretation was approved by the House of Lords in R v Savage; DPP v Parmenter.
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
- JCC (A Minor) v Eisenhower [1984] QB 331
- 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
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