The defendant entered the garden of a private house and looked through the windows of the house occupied by the victim. She was terrified. The Justices concluded that the defendant had deliberately frightened the victim, and that that constituted an assault. He appealed his conviction under the 1824 Act s4 of being in an enclosed garden for an unlawful purpose, namely to assault the victim thereby causing her fear and shock.
Held: The defendant intended to frighten the victim and that she was frightened. It was contended by the defendant that an assault was the doing of act which intentionally or recklessly caused another to apprehend immediate and unlawful violence; that the evidence was that the victim had not been caused to have such apprehension; and that there was no evidence upon which the Justices could say that the defendant had intended she should so apprehend. Kerr LJ: ‘The question of law is: ‘whether there was evidence upon which the magistrates’ court could conclude that the purpose of the defendant was to assault [Miss M] and consequently ‘an unlawful purpose’ within the meaning of the Vagrancy Act 1824.’
Kerr LJ
(1983) 76 Cr App R 234
Vagrancy Act 1824 4
England and Wales
Citing:
Approved – Hayes v Stephenson 1862
A defendant found in a park for the purpose of fornication was not guilty of the offence under the Act because fornication was not a criminal offence. . .
Cited by:
Cited – Regina v Ireland CACD 14-May-1996
Silent telephone calls which resulted in psychiatric damage to the victim could constitute an ‘assault occasioning actual bodily harm’ for the purposes of section 47 of the 1861 Act. Swinton Thomas LJ said: ‘The early cases pre-date the invention of . .
Cited – L v Crown Prosecution Service Admn 16-Jul-2007
The defendant, a youth, apealed his conviction under the 1824 Act of being found on enclosed premises for an unlawful purpose.
Held: No unlawful purpose had been shown and the conviction was quashed. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Crime
Updated: 20 December 2021; Ref: scu.235711
