ABSTRACT
There are a number of offences against the person, with distinctions made according to the seriousness of the injuries caused and D’s mental state at the time of causing them (intent or recklessness). The offences are, in ascending order of seriousness:
Assault – contrary to s.39 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (CJA)
Battery – also contrary to s.39 CJA
Assault occasioning actual bodily harm – contrary to s.47 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 (OAPA)
Inflicting grievous bodily harm – contrary to s.20 OAPA
Wounding – also contrary to s.20 OAPA
Causing grievous bodily harm with intent to do so or with intent to resist arrest – contrary to s.18 OAPA
Wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm or with intent to resist arrest – also contrary to s.18 OAPA
Note that there is no offence of ‘wounding with intent to wound’. It may also strike you as odd that the relevant sections in the statute are 18, 20 and 47. This is because the OAPA was a ‘consolidating’ statute, one that drew together a wide range of non-fatal offences contained in older legislation into one new statute (sections 23 and 24 deal with poisoning, for example).