DPP v Santana-Bermudez

DPP v Santa-Bermudez
Court	High Court of Justice (Queen's Bench Division)
Full case name	Director of Public Prosecutions v Santa-Bermudez
Decided	13 November 2003
Citation(s)	[2003] EWHC 2908 (Admin) [2003] All ER (D) 168 (Nov) [2004] Crim LR 471, DC 168 JP 373
Case history
Appealed from	Crown Court
Court membership
Judges sitting	Mr Justice Maurice Kay Mr Justice Mackay
Case opinions
Decision by	Maurice Kay J
Concurrence	Mackay J
Keywords
omission

Director of Public Prosecutions v Santa-Bermudez [2003] EWHC 2908 (Admin),^[1] also known as DPP v Santana-Bermudez,^[2] is a 2003 decision of the Divisional Court of Queen's Bench Division of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales, considering an appeal by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in a criminal assault case.

The defendant, Santa-Bermudez, had lied about the presence of sharp objects in his pocket when being searched by a female police constable and the constable was injured. The defendant was charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm but he argued that as he had not actively committed any action that led to the injury, he lacked the required actus reus for the crime to have been committed.

Although convicted at the magistrates' court, the defendant appealed to the Crown Court which found in his favour and dismissed the case. The DPP appealed to the High Court, which ruled that the defendant's willful omission, which put the constable in a dangerous situation, was sufficient actus reus for the crime to have been committed.^[3]