R v Parker (Criminal damage caused by the taking of a risk, recklessness)
A man is reckless for the purposes of the Criminal Damage Act 1971 s.1(1)when
he carries out a deliberate act knowing or closing his mind to the obvious fact that
there is some risk of damage resulting from it but nevertheless continues to
perform it. D twice smashed down the receiver of a public call-box onto the
dialling unit, thereby breaking it. He was in a temper because the telephone would
not work. D was charged with criminal damage contrary to the Criminal Damage
Act 1971 s.1(1). The judge directed the jury that "recklessly" meant a frame of
mind in which the consequences of an act deliberately done were ones which the
doer did not care about . . . an act done without thought for whether or not the
telephone might suffer damage as a result. D appealed against conviction.
Held, dismissing the appeal, that the test used was objective, and not subjective,
since it was obvious that damage was inevitable, and D could not escape the
consequences by saying that he had never directed his mind to them because he
was in a self-induced state of temper.
A man is reckless for the purposes of the Criminal Damage Act 1971 s.1(1)when
he carries out a deliberate act knowing or closing his mind to the obvious fact that
there is some risk of damage resulting from it but nevertheless continues to
perform it. D twice smashed down the receiver of a public call-box onto the
dialling unit, thereby breaking it. He was in a temper because the telephone would
not work. D was charged with criminal damage contrary to the Criminal Damage
Act 1971 s.1(1). The judge directed the jury that "recklessly" meant a frame of
mind in which the consequences of an act deliberately done were ones which the
doer did not care about . . . an act done without thought for whether or not the
telephone might suffer damage as a result. D appealed against conviction.
Held, dismissing the appeal, that the test used was objective, and not subjective,
since it was obvious that damage was inevitable, and D could not escape the
consequences by saying that he had never directed his mind to them because he
was in a self-induced state of temper.
