Assault Occasioning Actual Bodily Harm s.47NFOAtPA1861

Assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH) is a criminal offence under S.47 of the Non -Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1861 and carries a 5 year maximum sentence. 

ACTUS REUS

The term assault can also refer to a battery, which is more likely to be the case. There must be an assault or battery which causes harm to the victim. First, you would need to establish the assault or batter on behalf of the defendant and then decide if this was likely to cause ABH.

ABH was defines in R v Chan Fook as "any injury not so trivial as to be insignificant but no need to be permanent. Therefore, this can include bruises, minor broken bones, black eye, temporary loss of consciousness. In Chan Fook it was also decided that pyschiatric injury could also be classed as ABH if it amounted to a recognised medical condition and not mere emotions such as fear or distress. This, however, is hard to prove in courts as they have taken a strict approach as shown in the case of morris.

MENS REA

The…