ABSTRACT
The actus reus of this indictable offence can be committed in two ways: first by actually attempting to choke, suffocate or strangle the V; secondly by attempting to render the V ‘insensible, unconscious or incapable of resistance’. In the second case, the attempt must be carried out by means calculated to choke, suffocate or strangle the V. The difference presumably relates to the D’s intention. In the first case, the D is trying to choke, suffocate and strangle; in the second, these consequences may be the incidental result of the D’s intention of rendering the V unconscious or incapable of resistance. There is no need, however, in the second case for the prosecution to prove an intention to choke, suffocate or strangle the V.145
