A threat to strike a person at a distance making contact impossible may constitute an assault if it instils a fear of immediate violence in the hearer; the victim's conduct in fleeing and hiding may provide compelling evidence of apprehension of immediate violence even without express testimony to that effect. Evidence of an accused's aggressive conduct towards police arriving at the scene is admissible as transaction evidence and evidence of state of mind, not tendency evidence. Sentencing courts should be cautious about assuming informers will serve sentences under onerous protective custody conditions, as such assumptions may prove erroneous.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 71 later cases that cite this judgment.
19 of the 71 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.