SPECIFIC CRIMES

Eachcrime has certain elements that

distinguish it from another.
 Murder

 Definition:
 Murder consists in the unlawful and intentional killing of
another person.
 Elements:
1. Unlawful
2. Killing
3. Of a person;
4. With intention
 Culpable Homicide

 Is the unlawful negligent killing of another human being.

 Elements:
1. Unlawful
2. Killing
3. Of a human being
4. Fault=negligence
R v Schoonwinkel 1953 (3) SA 136 ( c )

 Facts:
 The accused was driving on the wrong side of the road.
 He collided head-on with an oncoming vehicle, driven
by Roux who was on the correct side.
 Roux and his wife died in the accident.
 Immediately prior to the collision ‘the mind of the
accused became quite blank as result of an epileptic fit
(not disputed by the State).
 The accused was charged with culpable homicide.
Court’s findings and reasons

 The court did not address itself to all the elements of the crime of culpable
homicide.
 The court simply found that the accused’s mind was blank as a result of the
epileptic fit.
 Therefore, he is exonerated from liability and is not guilty of culpable
homicide.
 The court relied on the absence of proper conduct, which must be voluntary.
 In this case there could be no voluntary conduct in the state that the accused
was in.
 Further, there was not evidence that he knew that it would be dangerous for
him to drive, and that he could or should have foreseen the dangers of driving
(therefore negligent). No conduct and no negligence, thus no need to consider
the other elements, as all the elements must be present to prove a crime.
 Not guilty.
 Assault

 Assault consists in unlawfully and intentionally applying force

to the person of another, or inspiring a belief in that other
person that force is immediately to be applied to him or her.
 Common Assault
 ELEMENTS:
 Unlawful
 Force or fear
 Intention
Assault with Intent to do Grievous Bodily
Harm

 ELEMENTS:
 Assault
 Grievous bodily harm
 Intent

 Grievous bodily harm

 Transkeian Penal Code defined grievous bodily harm by listing
the type of injuries that would constitute GBH: NB not
prescriptive but are useful guides
Assault GBH

 Emasculation (castration).
 Loss of sight.
 Loss of hearing.
 Loss of the use of a limb or organ.
 Disfiguration of the face or head.
 Fracture of a bone.
Contemporary South African Law

Adopts a more flexible approach

GBH= harm which in itself is such as seriously to interfere with
health.

In S v Mdau 2001 SACR 625 Flemming DJP stated the following;

“ What is firm is that there must be sufficient evidence to
positively prove an intent to cause more than the normal
consequences of an ordinary assault”.
 Rape

 Rape consists in intentional unlawful sexual intercourse with a

person without a consent.
 Elements:
 Unlawful
 Sexual intercourse
 With a person (male or female)
 Without consent
 Fault
Theft

 Theft consists in an unlawful appropriation with intent to steal of a

thing capable of being stolen.
 Elements:
 Unlawful
 Appropriation = (when the thief behaves as if he or she were the
lawful owner ( or possessor) of the property and deals with the
property in the way an owner would.
 Property – a thing capable of being stolen.
 Intention - must intend to deprive the person permanently of
article.
The following cannot be stolen:

 Immovable.
 Incorporeal.
 Res communes (water in the sea or river, air).
 Res nullius (abandoned property, wild animals).
 Res sua (your own things).
Robbery

 Consists in the theft of property by intentionally using violence or

threats of violence to induce submission to the taking of it from
another.
 Although a distinct offence = robbery is a form of theft.
 No conduct can be robbery unless also theft.
 Elements:
 Theft
 Violence
 Submission
 intention
………

 The are two aspects to the actus reus: the theft and the violent act.
 If one is missing then the conduct may either be theft or assault.
 The violence must induce submission.
Ex parte Minister of Justice: in re R v Gesa; R v De
Jongh 1959 (1) SA 234 (A)

 The Free State provincial division held in two decisions, namely R

v Gesa and R v De Jongh:
 That where A threatens B with personal violence
 In order to gain possession of a thing belonging to B, and
 B hands the thing over to A rather than run the risk of bodily
injury, A is not guilty of robbery or theft.
 The reason for this view by the division was the following:
 Theft and robbery are committed only if the property is obtained
without the victim’s consent.
…..

 On review it was found that:

 The law was wrongly stated in the two decisions.
 That where A threatens B with personal violence in order to get
possession of a thing belonging to B,
 And B, hands the thing over to A rather than run risk of bodily
injury, A is guilty of robbery
Fraud

 Consists in unlawfully making, with intent to defraud, a

misrepresentation which causes actual prejudice or which is potentially
prejudicial to another.
 Fraud = crime of the liar, cheat or confidence trickster.
 Seeks to punish those who use deceit to obtain property or some other
advantage from another.
 Elements:
 Unlawful
 Misrepresentation
 Prejudice
 intention
Misrepresentation

 The essence of fraud is the deceiving or misleading of the victim of

the crime.
 It can be done by words or conduct.
 Words:
 In order to constitute misrepresentation, the words or writing must
constitute a statement that is false.
 Whether the words used are a false statement is often a difficult
question of fact.
 Conduct:
 A fraudster may make a misrepresentation by nodding or shaking his
head, tendering a document, or credit card etc.
Housebreaking with Intent to commit a
crime

 Consists in unlawfully breaking and entering premises with intent to commit

that crime.
 This crime is committed by an unlawful entry into a home or other premises
with the intention of committing a crime on the premises.
 It does not matter what the intended crime is, whether theft, robbery, murder
or rape.
 Elements:
 Unlawful
 Breaking
 Entering
 Premises
 Intention
Breaking

 To “break” premises means to create a way into those premises by

displacing some obstruction that forms part of those premises.
 For example there is ‘breaking’ if X without causing damage,
opens a closed window or door whether or not it is locked, or
pushes up or in a partially open window.
 Moving a blind/curtain is enough.
 Breaking must involve some displacement of some part of the
building.
 X does not break if he enters through an open door or window or
puts his arm through an existing opening in the structure.
Entering

 To commit the crime the intruder must not only break into the
premises, he must also enter them.
 A mere ‘breaking’ without such an entry, is not enough.
 Intruder must move his person into the premises.
 An entry is complete as soon as any part of X’s person is inserted
into the premises, the insertion of X’s finger or even part of his
finger will do.
 Not necessary that it be X’s person that is inserted, the insertion of
an instrument controlled by X is sufficient.
Premises

 What qualifies as premises?

The general principle on which the courts have worked is that the
premises must be ‘such as are, or might ordinarily be, used for human
habitation or for the storage or housing of property of some kind.
Examples: store-room, a garage, a permanently occupied tent, a
caravan.