Murder, manslaughter, assaults, sexual offences and defences.

The first 200 words of this essay...

Murder, Manslaughter, Assaults, Sexual Offences and Defences

(1678 words).

Section 18 (wounding or causing grievous bodily harm with intent)

The Actus Reus of Section 18 Of The OAPA 1861.

S.18 OAPA penalises 'whosoever shall unlawfully and maliciously...wound or cause any grievous bodily harm...with intent to do some grievous bodily harm...' S.20 OAPA penalises 'Whosoever shall unlawfully and maliciously wound or inflict any grievous bodily harm...(GBH)'.

The actus Reus under these two offences can either be wounding OR causing/inflicting GBH. 'Wounding' means that the continuity of the whole skin is broken - not merely a scratch. Broken limbs, where there is no breaking of the skin, are not wounds. However they do come within GBH, which is defined in R v. Smith {2001} 1 AC 146 as 'really serious harm', different in kind to the 'interference with health and comfort' suggested as the test of ABH in R v. Miller {1975} 1 WLR 1222. Whether the defendant has, 'caused' grievous bodily harm is purely a matter of causation. Lord Mackay in R v. Mandair (1995) 1 AC 208 stated:

'In the case of "cause", the nature of the connection is immaterial (provided the chain of events