Decision
34 In imposing sentence, a judge is entitled to consider all the conduct of the offender, including that which would aggravate the offence, but cannot take into account circumstances of aggravation which would have warranted a conviction for a more serious offence: The Queen v De Simoni at 389. The usual approach to determine whether an offence is a more serious offence, for the purpose of this principle, is to consider the maximum penalty for the crime: R v Hooper [2004] NSWCCA 10 at [26].
35 Section 58 provides for a range of assault offences, each of which is punishable by five years' imprisonment. The particular offence in this case was assaulting an officer (a constable) while in the execution of his duty. Since 1999, s.60(1) Crimes Act 1900 has also provided for an offence of assaulting a police officer whilst in the execution of the officer's duty, although no actual bodily harm is occasioned to the officer, an offence punishable by imprisonment for five years. No submission was made in this case that a charge under s.58 was inappropriate, given the availability of a charge under s.60(1) where it is a police officer assaulted in the execution of duty. In any event, offences under ss.58 and 60(1) each carry the same maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment.
36 A person who assaults a police officer whilst in the execution of the officer's duty, and by the assault occasions actual bodily harm, is liable for imprisonment for seven years: s.60(2) Crimes Act 1900. A standard non-parole period of three years applies to a s.60(2) offence: s.54A Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999.
37 For the purposes of the De Simoni principle, it is clear that a s.60(2) offence is more serious than an offence under ss.58 or 60(1) Crimes Act 1900.
38 Mr Carroll submitted that her Honour had regard to an impermissible aggravating factor, namely that the assault upon the police officer occasioned actual bodily harm.
39 By his plea of guilty to the s.58 charge, the Applicant admitted an assault upon the police officer in the execution of his duty.
40 What is an assault? The traditional common law distinction between assault and battery has largely fallen away for the purpose of application of the modern law of assault. The distinction between assault and battery noted that an assault is an act which causes another person to apprehend the infliction of immediate unlawful force on his or her person, and a battery is the actual infliction of unlawful force on another person: R v Knight (1988) 35 A Crim R 314 at 316-317. Where the assault takes the form of a battery, what is required is an intentional touching of the victim without that person's consent and without lawful excuse: Fitzgerald v Kennard (1995) 38 NSWLR 184 at 192, 200.
41 A practical distinction is sometimes drawn between a physical assault (or battery assault) and psychic assault (or apprehended unlawful force assault): Fitzgerald v Kennard at 200-201; Mikhael v Conroy (Finlay J, 6 December 1990, unreported, BC9002962 at pages 8-15); Lake Macquarie City Council v Morris (2005) 63 NSWLR 263 at 273-274 [48]-[49].
42 It is not an element of the crime of assault that injury be caused to the victim. Any touching of another person, however slight, may amount to a physical assault. It has been said that the law cannot draw the line between different degrees of violence, and therefore totally prohibits the first and lowest stage of it: Secretary, Department of Health and Community Services v JWB and SMB (Marion's Case) [1991]-[1992] 175 CLR 218 at 233, 265-266; Collins v Wilcock [1984] 1 WLR 1172 at 1177.
43 If actual bodily harm was occasioned by an assault, then the offender is liable to conviction and sentence for a more serious offence where the occasioning of actual bodily harm is an element of the offence. In the case of a police officer victim, this offence arises under s.60(2). In the case of a victim who was not a police officer, the relevant offence is one under s.59 of the Act.
44 The term "actual bodily harm" is not defined in the Crimes Act 1900. The phrase "bodily harm" has been said to include any hurt or injury calculated to interfere with the health or comfort of the victim: R v Overall (1993) 71 A Crim R 170 at 178. It need not be permanent, but must be more than merely transient or trifling - it is something less than "grievous bodily harm", which requires really serious physical injury, and "wounding", which requires breaking of the skin: R v Lardner (NSWCCA, 10 September 1998, unreported, BC9804715 at page 4). The distinction between grievous bodily harm and actual bodily harm involves an assessment of the degree of harm done, with one being more serious than the other: R v Overall at 173-174. Bruises and scratches to a victim are typical examples of injuries that are capable of amounting to actual bodily harm: R v Cameron [1983] 2 NSWLR 66 at 67. If a victim has been injured psychologically in a very serious way, going beyond merely transient emotions, feelings and states of mind, that would likely amount to actual bodily harm: Li v R [2005] NSWCCA 442 at [45].
45 This Court has observed that the seriousness of the offence of common assault (under s.61 Crimes Act 1900) must be discerned from the circumstances of the offence and that, if bodily harm has been caused, then that is relevant to whether there has been an offence under s.59 but it is not, and cannot be, relevant to the sentencing of a person for common assault under s.61: R v Abboud [2005] NSWCCA 251 at [18]. It is impermissible for the Crown to tender, or for a court to admit, evidence in sentencing proceedings for common assault, which evidence seeks to demonstrate actual bodily harm: R v Abboud at [19].
46 In the present case, the statement of facts admitted, by consent, in the District Court referred to swelling and bruising to the face of the police officer as a result of the assault upon him by the Applicant. The Crown submitted in the District Court that the punch to the police officer had bruised his face and caused him to seek minor medical treatment. The paragraph in the statement of facts constituted evidence of actual bodily harm, and the sentencing Judge was invited to have regard to this consequence of the assault in passing sentence upon the Applicant.
47 Did the sentencing Judge breach the De Simoni principle in this case? Her Honour observed that "… it was a serious offence that resulted in some injury".
48 It has been made clear in cases such as R v Overall and R v Lardner that the bare recital of facts by a sentencing Judge does not necessarily involve a breach of the De Simoni principle.
49 If the Crown had determined to prosecute the Applicant for an offence under s.58 (or s.60(1)), and not an offence under s.60(2), then the statement of facts ought not to have referred to injury in the form of bruising which had resulted from the assault upon the police officer. Once such material was inserted in the agreed statement of facts, there was a prospect that the sentencing Judge would not only refer to it, but take it into account in assessing the objective seriousness of the offence for which the Applicant stood to be sentenced. This prospect became a reality in this case. Her Honour had regard to "the injury" when assessing the objective seriousness of the s.58 offence.
50 I am satisfied that the sentencing Judge erred in having regard to the injury resulting from the assault as an aggravating factor on sentence, and that a breach of the De Simoni principle has been established: R v Thorpe (NSWCCA, 17 December 1992, unreported, BC9201406 at page 11).
51 The difficulty which arises when an agreed statement of facts contains material which evidences a more serious offence, has been emphasised in a recent decision of this Court: Barton v R [2009] NSWCCA 285, where Howie J at [18] referred, once again, to the importance of an agreed statement of facts being consistent with the offence for which the offender was to be sentenced.
52 It should be observed that her Honour did not receive assistance from the legal representatives for the Crown and the Applicant in the District Court, with no reference being made to the De Simoni principle concerning injury to the police officer. It is the duty of counsel appearing at a sentencing hearing to assist the Court by making relevant submissions at that time on issues of fact and law: Edwards v R [2009] NSWCCA 199 at [11].
53 The question remains as to what flows from this error, an issue considered later in the judgment by reference to s.6(3) Criminal Appeal Act 1912.
54 I am conscious that sentencing decisions are made daily in the Local Court in this State for offences of common assault under s.61 and assault police officer in the execution of duty under ss.58 or 60 (1) Crimes Act 1900. Nothing said in this judgment is intended to deter prosecutors from appropriate charge selection in the exercise of prosecutorial discretion. Whether a particular case calls for a charge of assault, or assault occasioning actual bodily harm, will depend upon an assessment of factors relevant to the exercise of prosecutorial discretion, including the level of criminality revealed by the evidence. I regard the selection of a s.58 charge in this case as being entirely appropriate.
55 It remains the law, however, that where a charge of assault, and not assault occasioning actual bodily harm, proceeds to sentence, then evidence of the consequences of the assault, which constitutes actual bodily harm, ought not be tendered in the sentencing proceedings. If evidence of this type is tendered, then the sentencing court must be alert to the requirements of the De Simoni principle, and an express statement ought be made that the court is disregarding evidence of actual bodily harm in passing sentence for the offence of assault.