The defendant, aged 11, appealed against his conviction of an offence under the Public Order Act 1986, on evidence that he had thrown bricks at a police vehicle. He had then fled the scene.
Held: The conviction was quashed. The fact that the defendant had run away might have indicated no more than that he thought that he had been naughty rather than done something that was seriously wrong. The presumption of doli incapax was not disapplied, but, Bingham LJ said: ‘children have the benefit of the presumption which in this case and some others seems to me to lead to results inconsistent with common sense.’
Judges:
Bingham LJ
Citations:
[1992] Crim LR 34
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Regina v T CACD 16-Apr-2008
The twelve year old defendant had pleaded guilty to several allegations of sexual assault. The judge had ruled that it was not open to him to plead doli incapax. He appealed saying that only the presumption of doli incapax had been abolished, and . .
Cited – JTB, Regina v HL 29-Apr-2009
The defendant appealed against his convictions for sexual assaults. He was aged twelve at the time of the offences, but had been prevented from arguing that he had not known that what he was doing was wrong. The House was asked whether the effect of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Crime, Children
Updated: 01 May 2022; Ref: scu.269706