Criminal Law; Problematic scenario

Criminal Law; Problematic scenario

Scenario
You are a barrister at Johnson Chambers. You receive a phone call from a solicitor, Charlotte Bruce, who would like you to represent one of her clients, George Bonny. Charlotte tells told you on the phone that George has been arrested by the police and charged with two counts.

Count 1 – assault occasioning actual bodily harm contrary to s.47 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861.

Count 2 – wounding or causing grievous bodily harm with intent contrary to s.18 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861.

Charlotte asks you for an opinion on the charges. She asked a trainee solicitor to hold a conference with George yesterday afternoon and has asked the trainee to provide you with his notes. The trainee solicitor took the following note of George’s account.

Trainee’s notes: Client’s account.

“Me and my mate Trev were larking about in the shopping centre on Wednesday afternoon. We’d had a burger and were a bit bored to be honest, so we sat on one of the benches outside Debenhams while we decided what to do next. As we sat there we saw a girl that Trev fancies and I teased him about her, so he gave me a shove and told me to knock it off, all joking like. Anyway, I shoved him back and we started a bit of a tussle, then I must have shoved him a bit hard, because he fell off the bench and started to yell that I had broken his leg. A bit of a crowd gathered and someone said they had called the police and an ambulance. Now Trev’s my mate, but I’m not hanging around when the police come, because they had me for shoplifting twice, so I started to leave, but this bloke said I had to stay. I ran off, but he ran after me, and he was fast so I thought he’d catch me. I dodged down this little alley between the shops and there was one of those big waste bins on wheels. I wanted to block the bloke from following me, so I pulled it out and shoved it at him – it was really heavy. I heard him shout out, but I just ran off.

The police picked me up later and told me Trev had a badly sprained ankle and the bloke, a man called Mark, had a fractured pelvis and ruptured spleen where the bin had hit him. I can’t believe this. Me and Trev where only messing about and I didn’t mean to hurt the bloke. I’m in real trouble aren’t I?”
Instructions

You should draft an opinion, answering the following questions:

(a) Is the sprained ankle sufficient for the s.47 charge? Does George have any defence to this charge?

(b) On the s.18 charge in respect of Mark’s injuries, does it make a difference that George admits that he pushed the bin, but he insists that he was trying to get away and not injure Mark? If the case goes to trial, what will be the likely outcome with respect to this charge?

 

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