“Criminal Law Case Study Alan aged 9 years old sustained a blow to the head when he fell over a heap of stones left by bob, a builder. On a pavement outside cliffs house where bob had been working. Alan became unconscious and was rushed to hospital Alan suffered brain damage as a result. When Dan, Alans father, heard what had occurred. He telephones cliff saying ‘I am coming round to sort you out’ cliff was annoyed but as an ex boxer he was not frightened by the threat. Dan went to cliffs house and cliffs wife Elsa opened the door, unaware of Dans threat, she admitted Dan into her house. Dan pushed her out of the way but Dan had no intention of harming her. Inside, Dan hit cliff over the head with a poker and cliff was concussed. Discuss the potential liabilities of Bob and Dan.”

Non-fatal offences against the person are offences which invoke violence against a particular person. These different offences are contained in the Offences Against the Person Act 1861. The most common non-fatal offences covers under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 are assault, battery, Actual Bodily Harm and Grievous Bodily Harm.  An assault occurs where the victim is made to fear/apprehend that an imminent application of unlawful physical force will be made on him/her. The actus reus of a battery consists of the infliction of unlawful personal violence by the accused upon the victim. The slightest touching, if unlawful, is sufficient. Also, a battery may be caused by the indirect use of force which was found in the case of Haystead v Chief Constable of Derbyshire [2000] Crim LR 758. In this case, the defendant punched the victim which caused the victim to drop the baby she was…(short extract)