Offence Against Person

This paper analyzes the case of R v Barnes [2004] EWCA crim 3246 and the Offence Against Person Act 1861. It examines the role of consent in charging the accused in cases of bodily harm and discusses the specific provisions of the Act. The case involves an amateur footballer who unintentionally caused serious injury to an opponent during a match.

0Running head: OFFENCE AGAINST PERSON
Offence Against Person
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author Note

1OFFENCE AGAINST PERSON
Table of cases
R v Barnes [2004] EWCA crim 3246
R v Chapman [1976] 63 CR APP R 75.

2OFFENCE AGAINST PERSON
Introduction
This paper will focus on the case of R v Barnes [2004] EWCA crim 3246 along with the
Offence Against Person Act 1861. It would strive to establish that when there is no bodily harm
caused, the consent of the victim is important to bring charges against the accused. In case where
the bodily harmed is caused then the consent does not matter to the case because it shows on the
victim’s body. In case of bodily harm the consent matter the most because if there is anything
happened the statement which is provided by the victim will be the main proof against the
charged person1. In the above discussed case it stated that the plaintiff of this case was an
amateur footballer and while he was playing the match he went to chase the ball and in the
consequence, the opponent seriously injured his leg. In the above case it was held that the
accused grievously hurt the appellant under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861. The
defendant was charged under the section 20 of the Act which discuss that the bodily harm to any
person is an offence under the Offence against the Person Act 18612.
1 Bergelson, Vera. "Consent to harm." Pace L. Rev. 28 (2007): 683.
2 Bettinson, Vanessa, and CharLotte BIshop. "Is the creation of a discrete offence of coercive control necessary to
combat domestic violence." N. Ir. Legal Q. 66 (2015): 179.

3OFFENCE AGAINST PERSON
Discussion
In this assignment the detailed discussion of the R v Barnes case is given3. It discussed
about the detailed information of the case that grievous hurt is being effected upon the appellant
by the accused, even though unintentionally.
Consent means that when any person gives permission to the other person to do
something then it is called consent4. Consent is mainly used to charge the opposite person and it
mainly used for the main witnessed. The consent also can help the opponent person to set free
from the case and it is depends on the case and on the way of the consent. The defense of consent
generally means that the when the person is giving the consent it should be genuine and there is
no coercion or undue influence5. For example when there is assault takes place it requires
application of unlawful physical force and the other parties consent is more important in the case.
In some cases the person consent does not matter and the appellant cannot discharge from the
circumstance which was done by him. It occurs in sports like football where the consent is
provided by the person who is victim of the total incident. Identifying the incident is the main
advantage on which the defense can be made by the victim. There are the limits for the consent n
the football game and it should be mentioned and maintained by the football organizations6.
Bodily harm to any person means that when any person is harmed by the other person
which can cause some serious damages to the person which can leads them serious problem in
the life. According to Section 18 of the Offence Against Person Act, when a person intentionally
hurt someone causing grievous bodily harm then he shall be held guilty of felony. In this section,
3 R v Barnes [2004] EWCA crim 3246
4 Mostert M and others, 'Big Data In Medical Research And EU Data Protection Law: Challenges To The Consent
Or Anonymise Approach' (2016) 24 European Journal of Human Genetics
5 Hughes, Graham. "Consent in Sexual Offences 1." The Modern Law Review 25.6 (1962): 672-686.
6 Sheley, Erin. "Rethinking Injury: The Case of Informed Consent." BYU L. Rev. (2015): 63.

4OFFENCE AGAINST PERSON
it is stated that when the person have done something intentionally to evade from conviction then
he will be convicted for that act. This particular section has replaced the old section 4 of the
Offences Against Person Act 1837. The bodily harm case is mentioned under the section 20 of
this Act.
There are some crimes where consent is the defense, like bodily harm, assault and
battery. There are some exceptional cases where the victim gives consent to this crime. One of
the common examples of this consent can be physical contact in the sports. The persons who
participate in the sports are giving the consent deemed to have for the physical consent and for
the bodily harmed to the person also7. To established the consent of the person there are three
requirements should be present. Firstly consent cannot be given by the individual who involves
serious bodily harm. Secondly, harm should have a reasonable force when there is a risk that is
accepted by the person. Thirdly, if individual getting any benefit from such actions and then the
consent is justified. The requirement for the consent to the bodily harm is specified and the
application of these also very limited. The boxers and the rugby players have the consent for the
battery and assault because there was such auctioned required for their sport. The serious leg
injury caused by the appellant but it is not doing intentionally of the appellant so he is not
charger by the body8.
In the case of R v Barnes section 20 is applied from the Act, it defines that when a person
creates any offence regards the inflicting grievously harm or wounding the person
unintentionally then this sectioned is used9. Section 20 is used instead of the section 18 because it
7 Button, Ian MD, Caroline Angel, and Lawrence W. Sherman. "Predicting domestic homicide and serious violence
in Leicestershire with intelligence records of suicidal ideation or self-harm warnings: A Retrospective analysis."
Cambridge Journal of Evidence-Based Policing 1.2-3 (2017): 105-115.
8 Nordström, Anna, Peter Nordström, and Jan Ekstrand. "Sports-related concussion increases the risk of subsequent
injury by about 50% in elite male football players." Br J Sports Med 48.19 (2014): 1447-1450.
9 R v Barnes [2004] EWCA crim 3246

5OFFENCE AGAINST PERSON
is more preferable by the CPS guidance because in this section it was mentioned that the harm
done by the person is not intentionally. The person who falls under this section can be punished
with maximum of 5 years of imprisonment. When a person unlawfully does bodily harm causing
grievous hurt and with or without using a weapon or any kind of instrument then he is guilty with
the charge under this section and shall be kept under the legal process10.
In the case of R v Barnes the facts are discussed in this case is the appellant is an amateur
footballer who is playing and local amateur football match with the other team11. When the
appellant went to tackle to the opposing team then he caused the opponent a serious injury in the
right leg12. The appellant falls under the section 20 of the Offence Against the Person Act 1961
which defines that when the person is done grievously hurt to any person with unintentionally.
The appellant said that the tackle was done is not intentionally and it was a fair tackle, the injury
which was caused by the appellant was completely an accident and he does not meant to do that.
The court directed that if the prosecution can proved that the appellant done the act is not under
the sports legitimate way then the appellant can be charged with the legal proceedings13. The
footballer is the amateur one and the act is done by him is not intentionally cause they are
playing the amateur football match, while playing the game he tackle the opponent and causing
him the injury. The injury can be counted under the sports rules and it is not intentionally done to
harm the person.
10 Dvorak, Jiri, et al. "The FIFA medical emergency bag and FIFA 11 steps to prevent sudden cardiac death: setting
a global standard and promoting consistent football field emergency care." Br J Sports Med 47.18 (2013): 1199-
1202.
11 R v Barnes [2004] EWCA crim 3246
12 Tol, Johannes L., et al. "At return to play following hamstring injury the majority of professional football players
have residual isokinetic deficits." Br J Sports Med 48.18 (2014): 1364-1369.
13 Hammond, L. E., et al. "The impact of playing in matches while injured on injury surveillance findings in
professional football." Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports 24.3 (2014): e195-e200.

6OFFENCE AGAINST PERSON
The issue which is discussed in this case was that when any injury is occurred in regard
to any sport then there are separate rules and regulations of their own and they maintain that
individually14. The court found that when there is issues regarding the sport injury which brought
in the court by one person to another then the disciplinary conduct is followed by the their own
rules regarding the sporting context. Courts only intervene in cases where the person is
grievously harmed by another person and it can be categorized as a criminal offence. The case
must have the threshold of the section 20 of the Offence Against The Person Act otherwise the
court will not entertain the case15.
It was held in the case that most of the sports organizations have their own disciplinary
procedures to enforce their rules and regulations on the players16. In the majority of the situation
there is no need for the criminal proceedings because the injury is conducted by the player
unintentionally and the criminal intention to hurt the person is not present there. When any
criminal proceedings are justified, it was held that when any bodily harm is caused under the
section 47 of the 1861 Act, unintentionally wounding or inflicting any grievous harm to the
person under section 20 of the 1861 Act and causing any grievous harm to the person under the
section 18 of the 1861 Act the appellant can be charged with the murder. When there is no bodily
harm caused, the consent from the victim is always important and it is a defense to the charged.
When there is bodily harm is caused and the consent of the victim is irrelevant because the injury
is caused to the person and it was established by our courts that apart from some exceptional
situation there is no one who give consent to having a bodily harm upon him. In some of the
14 Adubato, Beth. "The promise of violence: televised, professional football games and domestic violence." Journal
of sport and social issues 40.1 (2016): 22-37.
15 Ling, Helen, et al. "Mixed pathologies including chronic traumatic encephalopathy account for dementia in retired
association football (soccer) players." Acta neuropathologica 133.3 (2017): 337-352.
16 Benedict, Jeff, and Armen Keteyian. The system: The glory and scandal of big-time college football. Anchor
Books, 2014.

7OFFENCE AGAINST PERSON
exceptional cases there is consent to having the bodily injury like a patient give consent to the
doctor for operating him. The another exception of this case is when the person is playing any
sports like football or boxing, but football is different from the boxing because in boxing it was
known that the players intention to hit each other and in the football it was different situation17.
In some situation, in case of football when there is chance to get injury or grievously hurt by the
other person. Participants in the sports give implied consent because there are chances to raise
any injury or any grievous harm to them. When any injury or harm is occurred then it is not
acceptable when they are playing sport because there is no unexpressed consent and it is not
covered by the defense. In the case it the judge held that the appellant is not considered to go
beyond the regulations of the rules in sport and it did not required any criminal proceedings to
this case. There is no intention to injure the opposite party and it fails to meet requirements of the
section 20 of this Act. The appeal was allowed and the appellant was not convicted18.
Example 1:
In sports like rugby there is a contract with the players because during the match it can
result an injury to the player. Some of the injury occurs which are outside of the sports rule and it
is referred to on the ball offence. It is mentioned in the FIFA law that recklessly jumping to get
the ball, use of excessive strength for charging against the opponent, and carelessly tackle any
opponent is strictly prohibited19. In the International Rugby Board Rules, it was stated that the
player who tackle any other player over the shoulder line and with the stiff arm it all falls under
the on the ball offence.
17 Bizzini, Mario, and Jiri Dvorak. "FIFA 11+: an effective programme to prevent football injuries in various player
groups worldwide—a narrative review." Br J Sports Med 49.9 (2015): 577-579.
18 Pearce, Alan J., et al. "The long-term effects of sports concussion on retired Australian football players: a study
using transcranial magnetic stimulation." Journal of neurotrauma 31.13 (2014): 1139-1145.
19 Eirale, Cristiano, et al. "Epidemiology of football injuries in Asia: a prospective study in Qatar." Journal of
science and medicine in sport 16.2 (2013): 113-117.

8OFFENCE AGAINST PERSON
In the R v Chapman it was stated that while a football match is playing between the logg
lawford and wheeltappers, Mark Chapman player of the Lawford team challenged the Terry
Jhonson who is the player of wheeltapers20. When Terry was tackling the ball Chapman went
towards him and stamped his foot intentionally which caused him a serious injury to the right
leg, which costed him a constructive surgery coupled with the skin grafting. Here the player
caused the injury intentionally and therefore he will be charged. Chapman was pleaded guilty of
the offence21. Judge Robert Orme said that it is a deliberate act which is done intentionally. In the
football match no one have any excuse to do such violence for which Jhonson has to suffer a lot.
While considering the situation of the victim and his deliberate criminal act he gave Chapman to
six months of imprisonment.
Example 2:
In 1988 the first example of the conviction of the footballer for the law over the field
violence is happened. The culprit Chris Kamara tackles Jim Melrose with the elbow which cause
breaking the Melrose cheekbone. For causing the grievous harm to the opponent he was charged
with $1200 fine and $250 for the compensation to the player22.
Example 3:
In the Majedski stadium a match between the Reading and the Bristol city in 1999 the
player Gerard Lavin responded the fans taunt by throwing the ball into the stands. The ball
caught by the supporter Mark Stevens which causing him fracture in the wrist23. The player was
20 R v Chapman [1976] 63 CR APP R 75
21 Hägglund, Martin, et al. "Injuries affect team performance negatively in professional football: an 11-year follow-
up of the UEFA Champions League injury study." Br J Sports Med 47.12 (2013): 738-742.
22 Steffen, Kathrin, et al. "Evaluation of how different implementation strategies of an injury prevention programme
(FIFA 11+) impact team adherence and injury risk in Canadian female youth football players: a cluster-randomised
trial." Br J Sports Med 47.8 (2013): 480-487.
23 Fintland, Hroar. Prevalence and associations of injury and illness among high school elite sport-students in the
south of Norway. MS thesis. Universitetet i Agder; University of Agder, 2018.

9OFFENCE AGAINST PERSON
fined with $1000for the common assault the court ordered to pay $300 to Steven for the
compensations.
Example 4:
In august 2005 from the team Sparta Rotterdam’s footballers Rachid Bouaozan was
suspended from the match and was sentenced to serve six months of jail. Additionally, he was
ordered to serve 200 hours of community service for intentionally causing bodily harm which
ended the career of Niels Kokmeijer from the Go Ahead Eagles Team24. The player Kokmeiher
suffered multiple fractures in the right leg while playing the game and it’s still doubtful that he
will be able to walk normally again.
Conclusion:
From the above discussion it can be concluded that the consent regarding the bodily harm
is not counted as the defense of the law. From the discussed cases, the judges had concluded that
the jury has to decide the legitimate sport and the legitimate action in context to the given case.
The court has to determine the intention and the motive of the person who causes the injury. The
jury has to analyze the situation where the consent is made with all the exceptions is mentioned
in the requirements of the law. When there is no bodily harm, the consent given by the victim is
more important because it can save him from the conviction. When bodily harm is mentioned
then there is no place for the consent given and the person will not benefitted by the victim’s
consent. From the above discussed case examples it was final that the exceptional case only
consent was defense by the law. The court held that the person is an amateur footballer who was
playing football and when he went for the tackling it caused serious bodily injury to the other
24 Mok, Kam-Ming. "Reliability and methodological concerns of vertical drop jumping and sidestep cutting tasks:
implications for ACL injury risk screening." (2015).

10OFFENCE AGAINST PERSON
person. The appellant here discharged from the all allegations and the appellant is free from all
kind of charges. The consent can be given by the party if there is any exception otherwise no
consent can be given because it’s not right to giving the consent for own hurt. The requirements
have to maintain to give the consent t the other people.

11OFFENCE AGAINST PERSON
Bibliography
Books
Benedict, Jeff, and Armen Keteyian. The system: The glory and scandal of big-time college
football. Anchor Books, 2014.
Journal
Adubato, Beth. "The promise of violence: televised, professional football games and domestic
violence." Journal of sport and social issues 40.1 (2016): 22-37.
Bergelson, Vera. "Consent to harm." Pace L. Rev. 28 (2007): 683.
Bettinson, Vanessa, and CharLotte BIshop. "Is the creation of a discrete offence of coercive
control necessary to combat domestic violence." N. Ir. Legal Q. 66 (2015): 179.
Bizzini, Mario, and Jiri Dvorak. "FIFA 11+: an effective programme to prevent football injuries
in various player groups worldwide—a narrative review." Br J Sports Med 49.9 (2015): 577-579.
Button, Ian MD, Caroline Angel, and Lawrence W. Sherman. "Predicting domestic homicide and
serious violence in Leicestershire with intelligence records of suicidal ideation or self-harm
warnings: A Retrospective analysis." Cambridge Journal of Evidence-Based Policing 1.2-3
(2017): 105-115.
Dvorak, Jiri, et al. "The FIFA medical emergency bag and FIFA 11 steps to prevent sudden
cardiac death: setting a global standard and promoting consistent football field emergency care."
Br J Sports Med 47.18 (2013): 1199-1202.

12OFFENCE AGAINST PERSON
Eirale, Cristiano, et al. "Epidemiology of football injuries in Asia: a prospective study in Qatar."
Journal of science and medicine in sport 16.2 (2013): 113-117.
Fintland, Hroar. Prevalence and associations of injury and illness among high school elite sport-
students in the south of Norway. MS thesis. Universitetet i Agder; University of Agder, 2018.
Hägglund, Martin, et al. "Injuries affect team performance negatively in professional football: an
11-year follow-up of the UEFA Champions League injury study." Br J Sports Med 47.12 (2013):
738-742.
Hammond, L. E., et al. "The impact of playing in matches while injured on injury surveillance
findings in professional football." Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports 24.3
(2014): e195-e200.
Hughes, Graham. "Consent in Sexual Offences 1." The Modern Law Review 25.6 (1962): 672-
686.
Ling, Helen, et al. "Mixed pathologies including chronic traumatic encephalopathy account for
dementia in retired association football (soccer) players." Acta neuropathologica 133.3 (2017):
337-352.
Mok, Kam-Ming. "Reliability and methodological concerns of vertical drop jumping and
sidestep cutting tasks: implications for ACL injury risk screening." (2015).
Mostert M and others, 'Big Data In Medical Research And EU Data Protection Law: Challenges
To The Consent Or Anonymise Approach' (2016) 24 European Journal of Human Genetics

13OFFENCE AGAINST PERSON
Nordström, Anna, Peter Nordström, and Jan Ekstrand. "Sports-related concussion increases the
risk of subsequent injury by about 50% in elite male football players." Br J Sports Med 48.19
(2014): 1447-1450.
Pearce, Alan J., et al. "The long-term effects of sports concussion on retired Australian football
players: a study using transcranial magnetic stimulation." Journal of neurotrauma 31.13 (2014):
1139-1145.
Sheley, Erin. "Rethinking Injury: The Case of Informed Consent." BYU L. Rev. (2015): 63.
Steffen, Kathrin, et al. "Evaluation of how different implementation strategies of an injury
prevention programme (FIFA 11+) impact team adherence and injury risk in Canadian female
youth football players: a cluster-randomised trial." Br J Sports Med 47.8 (2013): 480-487.
Tol, Johannes L., et al. "At return to play following hamstring injury the majority of professional
football players have residual isokinetic deficits." Br J Sports Med 48.18 (2014): 1364-1369.
Legislation
Offences Against the Person Act 1861
Case laws
R v Barnes [2004] EWCA crim 3246
R v Chapman [1976] 63 CR APP R 75.