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What is assault?

By Bamidele Kolawole

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An Assault is the act of committing physical harm or unwanted physical contact upon a person or, in some specific legal definitions, a threat or attempt to commit such an action.

Tolu Abisagbo Esq

Assault is generally defined as an intentional Act that puts another person in reasonable apprehension of imminent harmful or offensive contact.

No physical injury is required, but the actor must have intended to cause a harmful or offensive contact with the victim and the victim must have thereby been put in immediate apprehension of such a contact.“ Intention” in the context of assault, means that the act is not accidental, but motive is immaterial.

Olubunmi Akinseye Esq

Assault is an offence which is clearly defined under section 252 of the CRIMINAL CODE. Using my own pattern, assault is the application of one or more of various types of forces by one person against another without that other person’s  consent, and if it was by consent, it is Assault when the consent was obtained by fraud or deceit.

It clarify further that, assault can be committed when the victim is merely apprehensive of likely danger or harm coming to him by someone who has the power or ability to cause the danger or harm (harassment).

However, assault will not be alleged, if the application of Force was authorized by the Law or when the victim of assault volunteered, such as in WRESTLING,BOXING or any other MARTIAL ART MATCHES, officially organized by a Licensed Promoter, in that case, it will be classified as a Case of “VIOLENTI NON FIT INJURIA,” meaning that the assaulted cannot  legally claim to be a “Victim of a Violent Injury,” since he willingly entered for the competition.

Olusegun Kofoworola Esq

Assault refers to the wrong act of causing someone to reasonably fear imminent harm. This means that the fear must be something a reasonable person would foresee as threatening to them. It refers to the actual wrong act of physically harming someone.

The law provides penalty for assault and it can be found from Section 351-369 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act.

Olusegun Akeredolu Esq

Lexically speaking, assault is an offence of attacking somebody physically. But under the Ondo State Criminal Code (Cap. 37, Vol. 1, Laws of Ondo State, 2010), “Assault” is defines in term of social contact at section 252 thus:
“A person who strikes, touches, or moves, or otherwise applies force of any kind to the person of another, either directly or indirectly, without his consent, or with his consent, if the consent is obtained by fraud, or who by any bodily act or gesture attempts or threatens to apply force of any kind to the person of another without his consent, in such circumstances that the person making the attempt or threat has actually or apparently a present ability to effect his purpose, is said to assault that person, and the act is called an assault.”
The basic elements of assault is applying force directly or indirectly to the person of another without valid consent.
However, it is not all assaults that constitute offence. Assault that are lawful will not carry criminal responsibility in law. The same Criminal Code Act section 253 explains that an assault is unlawful and constitutes an offence ‘unless it is authorized or justified or excused by law.
The application of force by one person to the person of another may be unlawful, although it is done with the consent of that other person’.
The punishment for assault is imprisonment for one year if the assault is ordinary and the effect on the person assaulted is not serious. But when the assault is serious and occasioned harm, then the person that caused the assault may end up spending three years in jail.
In the same vein, indecent assault on males is considered a felony under the criminal code as and punishment is also three years.
At the higher level is an assault with intent to commit unnatural offence. This assault the law punishes with 14 years imprisonment.

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Segun Oni, Esq

In general parlance, assault simply means to attack, to hit with force, to beat somebody with harmful or dangerous object.

Under the Law of Tort, the word assault suggests a different meaning from the general understanding, the word battery and assault is a twin brother and just a slight difference from each other. It is a tortuous liability which may involve the payment of damages but in a criminal law, it is an offence.

Section 252 of the Criminal code Act defines it as a person who strikes, touches, or moves, or otherwise applies force of any kind to, the person of another, either directly or indirectly, without his consent, if the consent is obtained by fraud, or who by any bodily act or gesture attempts or threatens to apply force of any kind to the person of another without his consent, in such circumstances that the person making the attempt or threat has actually or apparently a present ability to effect his purpose, is said to assault that other person, and the act is called an assault.

If any of the four ingredients viz: to strike, touch (if you touch anybody without his/her permission, you can be charged for assault), moves or applies force, the presence makes the act an assault which is a criminal offence. It is the act of committing physical harm or unwanted unauthorised physical contact with another person.

From the above stated ingredients, one can infer quickly, that mere words or speech don’t amount to an assault but however, if a thing said is what is actually carried out, then, in the instance case it may amount to assault.

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There are different types of assault, it varies in types and the punishment allotted to them varies, this can be found in Sections 351 to 355 of the Criminal Code Act, ranges from one year, three years, seven years and above all 14 years.

J.O. Sebiotimo Esq

Assault is generally defined as an intentional act that puts another person in reasonable apprehension of imminent harmful or offensive contact.

It is not necessary for the victim of an assault to be touched before it can be said such person has been assaulted because assault is not limited to physical assault.

An assault can equally be defined to be the act of inflicting physical harm or unwanted physical contact upon another person. It can also be said to be a threat or attempt to commit such an action. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in criminal prosecution, civil liability, or both.

The offense of assault is provided in law as it is defined in Section 252 of the Criminal Code Act as:

“A person who strikes, touches, or moves, or otherwise applies a force of any kind to the person of another, either directly or indirectly, without his consent, or with his consent, if the consent is obtained by fraud, or who by any bodily act or gesture attempts or threatens to apply the force of any kind to the person of another without his consent, in such circumstances that the person making the attempt or threat has actually or apparently a present ability to effect his purpose, is said to assault that other person, and the act is called an assault.”

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The punishment for the offense of assault was at the other hand provided in Section 351 of the Criminal Code Act, which states that any person who unlawfully assaults another is guilty of a misdemeanor, and is liable, if no greater punishment is provided, to imprisonment for one year.

There are different types of assault under our criminal jurisprudence ranging from assault occasioning harm, sexual assault with intent to commit unnatural offence(sexual violence), serious assault, assaults on female (abduction), indecent assaults on female and male, assault on person protecting wrecks, rape, attempt to commit rape and so on.

The law provides penalty for each of the types of assault mentioned above and it can be found from Section 351-369 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act.

David Ebriku Esq

An assault is the act of committing physical harm or unwanted physical contact upon a person or, in some specific legal definitions, a threat or attempt to commit such an action. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in criminal prosecution, civil liability, or both.

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