UK Offence Report

Assault with intent to commit buggery

article 20 of The Criminal Justice (Northern Ireland) Order 2003

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

20 A person who assaults another person with intent to commit buggery shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for

a term not exceeding ten years.

Text as made, from legislation.gov.uk. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.

Who it binds, and what has to be proved

Binds
a person
Conduct
breaching the provision
Fault element
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove both that the conduct happened and that it was done with the state of mind the provision names (with intent to).

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: with intent to.

What would breach article 20?

These are illustrations, not law. They are generated from the provision’s own words to show the shape of the offence. Whether any particular conduct is caught depends on the full text, on any amendment since, and on the facts.

  1. On these words an offence is committed where a person assaults another person with intent.
  2. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Criminal Justice (Northern Ireland) Order 2003.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Indictable only — tried in the Crown Court
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined
Maximum prison (on indictment)
10 years

No penalty was determined from this instrument. It may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence. Absence of a figure here is not evidence that the offence carries no penalty.

Sentencing

Offences of this kind are usually sentenced under the guidelines below. This is a mapping by subject, not a finding about this provision, and the links go to a search of the Sentencing Council’s own site.

Prosecution figures

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision, and it could not be matched to a Ministry of Justice offence code. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have one. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Revoked
Made
8 May 2003
In force from
Not determined
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: the provision creating this offence was omitted from its instrument by a later instrument.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

Part I of this Order is introductory. Part II makes provision relating to bail in criminal proceedings except where section 67 of the Terrorism Act 2000 applies. Part III provides for time limits for preliminary stages of criminal proceedings. Part IV extends the offence of rape to rape of another man and makes other provision regarding sexual offences including the abolition of the presumption that a boy under the age of 14 years is incapable of sexual intercourse. Part V contains miscellaneous provisions relating to criminal justice including provisions relating to riotous behaviour.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

Other offences in the same instrument

How this was identified as an offence

Everything above rests on the judgement that this provision creates a criminal offence, rather than mentioning one. That judgement is made by rule, from the words of the provision, and this is the rule that made it — with a confidence of 0.92.

Basis
the provision says a person is “guilty of an offence”
Confidence
0.92 of 1.00

A provision that states a penalty for an offence created elsewhere can read very like one that creates an offence, and the rules can mistake the one for the other. If the text quoted above sets a penalty for something made an offence by another provision, treat the classification on this page with that in mind, and read the instrument.

Check the source