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 not the idea itself.
Held: The appeal was dismissed. When Parliament abolished the presumption of doli incapax, at the same time it abolished the idea of it: ‘Parliament must be taken to have intended ‘the presumption’ to encompass the concept of doli incapax when it was abolished in section 34. That, appears to us to have been the common understanding of the words at the time that the Act was passed.’
Latham LJ VP, Forbes J, Sir Richard Curtis
[2008] EWCA Crim 815, Times 05-May-2008, [2008] Crim LR 721, [2008] 3 WLR 923, [2008] 2 Cr App R 17, (2008) 172 JP 335
Bailii
Crime and Disorder Act 1998 34, Children and Young Persons Act 1933 50
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Crown Prosecution Service v P; Director of Public Prosecutions v P Admn 27-Apr-2007
The prosecutor appealed a grant of a stay of a prosecution of the 13 year old defendant as an abuse of process. Reports had indicated that he was unfit to plead. The prosecution contended that, if the court thought P ought not to face trial by . .
Cited – C (A Minor) v Director of Public Prosecutions QBD 30-Mar-1994
The 12 year old defendant held the handlebars of a motorcycle allowing a second boy to try to remove the chain and padlock securing it. He appealed against his conviction.
Held: The presumption of doli incapax for a 10-14 year old child is no . .
Cited – JBH and JH (minors) v O’Connell QBD 1981
The defendants were boys of 13 and 11. They broke into a school, stole various items and ‘used 12 tubes of duplicating ink to redecorate the school’. They offered no evidence and submitted that there was no case to answer as the prosecution had not . .
Cited – A v Director of Public Prosecutions QBD 1992
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 . .
Cited by:
Appeal from – 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.
Updated: 11 August 2021; Ref: scu.267059
