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Director of Public Prosecutions v Majewski: CACD 1975

The defendant appealed against his conviction for assault saying that he was so intoxicated on drink and drugs at the time that he did not have mens rea.
Held: The appeal failed. The court certified a question for the House of Lords namely: ‘Whether a defendant may properly be convicted of assault notwithstanding that, by reason of his self-induced intoxication, he did not intend to do the act alleged to constitute the assault’.
Lawton LJ said: ‘The facts are commonplace-indeed so commonplace that their very nature reveals how serious from a social and public standpoint the consequences would be if men could behave as the [appellant] did and then claim that they were not guilty of any offence.’

Judges:

Lawton LJ

Citations:

[1975] 3 WLR 401, (1976) 62 Cr App R 5

Statutes:

Criminal Justice Act 1967 8

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Appeal fromDirector of Public Prosecutions v Majewski HL 1976
The defendant took a cocktail of drink and drugs and, whilst intoxicated, assaulted pub landlord. He said that he did not know what he was doing, and had no mens rea, that self-induced intoxication could be a defence to a charge of assault, and that . .
CitedAchogbuo, Regina v CACD 19-Mar-2014
The Court considered a renewed application for leave to appeal which the Registrar had considered to be without merit and was referred under section 20 of the 1968 Act.
Held: The reference had been properly made. The application for extension . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 04 October 2022; Ref: scu.270321

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