Nigel Harland

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To: Partner of Kramer, Olayode, and Taggart LLP From: Ms. Ulven, Trainee Solicitor at LLP Date: 21.04.24 Subject: Nigel Harland-Evidence regarding charges and defenses. Q1. Nigel Harland attacked Martin Gallagher on December 22nd, “ferociously” “punching and kicking [him] with all his might.” Martin sustained multiple injuries including “cuts. bruises, a broken arm, and broken ribs.” This evidence indicates Harland has committed an offense under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 (OAPA). The relevant charges to consider are sections 47, 20, and 18 of the Act. Section 47 of the OAPA requires the defendant to commit an assault or battery, amounting to actual bodily harm (ABH) by interfering with the victim’s health or comfort. Harland's …show more content…

The mens rea for this offense necessitates intent or recklessness. Notably, in the context of offences, recklessness can be satisfied by intoxication, whereby reducing oneself to an intoxicated state is a ‘reckless course of conduct’ capable of constituting the necessary mens rea. By reasonable assumption, Nigel Harland was intoxicated at the time of his offence. Following Taj, the phrase ‘attributable to intoxication’ includes where ‘the effect, [of earlier drug-taking] can be shown to have triggered subsequent episodes of paranoia.’ It follows that, because Harland began to “loose grip on reality” after smoking a “large quantity of marijuana,” his subsequent state of prolonged psychosis, ongoing at the time of the attack, was an ‘immediate and proximate consequence’ of his prior substance usage. Consequently, in the eyes of the law, Harland was voluntarily intoxicated at the time of his offence amounting to recklessness and constituting the necessary mens rea. It is arguable however that the totality of the injuries suffered by Mr. Gallagher exceed ABH, amounting to very serious harm, and consequently, grievous bodily harm (GBH), qualifying a section 20 offense, whereby the defendant

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