Key Point
- Mens rea of assault: D intended or was reckless that the victim would apprehend imminent unlawful force
Facts
- D violently resisted arrest for causing a disturbance, fracturing the hand of a police officer in the process
- D was convicted with assault occasioning actual bodily harm
- D appealed on the basis that the judge erred in directing that recklessness in applying physical force was sufficient
Held (Court of Appeal)
- Appeal dismissed – recklessness sufficed to convict D
Jones LJ
- ‘We see no reason in logic or in law why a person who recklessly applies physical force to the person of another should be outside the criminal law of assault. In many cases the dividing line between intention and recklessness is barely distinguishable. This is such a case.’
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