Crime XXXXXXXXXIX – s.18 and s.20 of the Offences Against Person Act (1861) V

2. Grievous Bodily Harm. Grievous bodily harm is defined as serious harm to another person or harm that is above or more serious than actual bodily harm (ABH).

In DPP v Smith (1961) – Smith had stolen some goods and loaded it to the back of his car. A policeman ordered him to stop but he drove off instead and the policeman jumped on to the back of the car in order to stop him. The policeman was subsequently thrown off from the back of the vehicle, into the path of other oncoming vehicles and died as a result. The defendant was tried and convicted. The defendant appealed.

The House of Lords unanimously upheld the conviction. In doing what he (Smith) did, he must, as a reasonable man have contemplated that serious harm was likely to occur. Hence, he is guilty of murder.

The test in DPP v Smith (1961) is as follows: - If the jury is satisfied that he (Smith) must as a reasonable man have contemplated that grievous bodily harm (GBH) was likely to have resulted to the policeman from his actions and such harm did in actual fact occur, then the accused is guilty of murder. On the other hand, if the jury is satisfied that he (Smith) could not have contemplated that the policeman would incur grievous bodily harm (GBH) as a result of his actions then the verdict would be guilty of manslaughter.

The test in DPP v Smith (1961) was supplanted by Section 8 of the Criminal Justice Act (1967) – Proof of criminal intent.

A court or jury, in determining whether a person has committed an offence –

(a) shall not be bound in law to infer that he intended or foresaw a result of his actions by reason only of its being a natural and probable consequence of those actions; but

(b) shall decide whether he did intend or foresee that result by reference to all the evidence, drawing such inferences from the evidence as appear proper in the circumstances.

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