VIOLENT INFRACTIONS :
ASSAULT
o Sections 265 et seq. of the Criminal Code
- Definition: The act of intentionally using force against another person without that person's consent.
o 5 types of assault :
- Common assault
· Slight violence towards a person, without necessarily causing visible injury.
· This definition can include spitting on someone, pushing someone or touching someone without their consent.
- Armed assault
· The act of using any object to cause an assault on someone.
· The definition of a "weapon" is very broad under the Criminal Code. A pencil, a plastic bottle, even a stroller are all weapons in the definition of this offence.
- Assault and battery
· Assault constituting bodily harm to the victim.
· According to the Criminal Code, injuries must be neither minor nor trivial in nature; they must affect the victim's health;
- Assault and strangulation
· Specific offence of choking, strangling or suffocating a person
- Aggravated assault
· This offence is the most severe.
· Assault must be of a nature to injure, disfigure, mutilate or endanger the life of the complainant.
THREAT ART 264.1 CRIMINAL CODE
o A threat includes transmitting to another person a threat to cause death or injury, or to damage that person's property.
o The onus is on the prosecution to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the person intended to transmit the threatening message to the complainant.
HARASSMENT ART 264 CRIMINAL CODE
o According to the Criminal Code, harassment is defined as acting towards a person knowing that he or she is being harassed, or not caring that he or she is being harassed.
o The complainant in turn develops a reasonable fear for his or her own safety or that of someone close to him or her.
SEXUAL OFFENCES
o SEXUAL ASSAULT
- Section 271 of the Criminal Code
- The accused must have intentionally touched another person of a sexual nature while knowing that he or she was not consenting or while being reckless or involuntarily blind.
- This is one of the criminal code offences with a minimum sentence: when the act is committed against a person under the age of 16, the minimum sentence is 1 year's imprisonment.
o SEXUAL CONTACTS
- Section 151 of the Criminal Code
- The accused must, for sexual purposes, touch directly or indirectly, with a part of his or her body or with an object, any part of the body of a person under 16 years of age.
- Consent cannot exist in this offence with the exception of two situations:
· If the complainant is 12 or 13 years old, and the accused is less than two years older AND is not in a position of authority or trust
· If the child is 14 or 15 years old and the accused is less than 5 years older AND is not in a position of authority or trust
o INCITEMENT TO SEXUAL CONTACT
- Article 152 Criminal Code
- The accused must, for sexual purposes, invite, engage or incite a child under the age of 16 to touch him, herself or a third party.
- Only the fact of communicating with the child for his purposes is enough to contribute to the commission of the offence.
- Consent cannot exist in this offence with the exception of two situations:
· If the complainant is 12 or 13 years old, and the accused is less than two years older AND is not in a position of authority or trust
· If the child is 14 or 15 years old and the accused is less than 5 years older AND is not in a position of authority or trust