Assault Causing Bodily Harm Lawyers in Toronto
What is Assault Causing Bodily Harm?
Assault causing bodily harm is a charge classified under “Offences Against the Person and Reputation” in the Criminal Code. This is the mid-range assault offence, with maximum punishments falling above those of a common assault, and beneath the more severe aggravated assault offence.
In order to be convicted, the Crown must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you committed an assault by:
- Intentionally applying force to a person without their consent, or
- Attempting or threatening to apply force with an act or gesture causing the person to believe that you’re going to assault them, or
- Accosting or impeding another person while openly wearing a real or imitation weapon.
Once that is proven, the Crown must also prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you caused bodily harm. Bodily harm is defined in the Criminal Code as “any hurt or injury to a person that interferes with the health or comfort of the person and that is more than merely transient or trifling in nature.”
Assault charges commonly arise out of domestic situations. If your assault causing bodily harm charge involves a past or present romantic partner or a family member, please see our Domestic Violence FAQ.
The relevant provision for assault causing bodily harm in the Canadian Criminal Code is:
Assault with a weapon or causing bodily harm
267 Every person is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than 10 years or is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction who, in committing an assault,
(a) carries, uses or threatens to use a weapon or an imitation thereof,
(b) causes bodily harm to the complainant, or
(c) chokes, suffocates or strangles the complainant.
If you have been charged with section 267 (a) Assault with a weapon, or section 267 (c) Assault by choking, please see the respective pages for those offences.
Investigation of Assault Causing Bodily Harm Charges in Toronto
An investigation of an assault causing bodily harm allegation in Toronto is typically initiated by the alleged victim (or relative or witness). They contact the local Toronto Police Service and report it. The police will request a written statement from the complainant and any witnesses, then they will launch an investigation.
Because assault causing bodily harm is a serious offence, it requires a thorough police investigation. Police will typically interview all witnesses to the offence, review surveillance videos, seize any weapons involved, photograph the scene, and obtain medical documents to prove the type and extent of the alleged victim’s injuries.
After the police have gathered their evidence, they will arrest you if they believe you are the perpetrator. If you are not present at the scene, police will track you down or issue a warrant for your arrest.
Even if a complainant makes an allegation of assault causing bodily harm that they later withdraw, it’s up to the Crown Prosecutor to decide whether to pursue the charges against you. The complainant can be subpoenaed to appear in court, even against their wishes.
After you have been charged, police will provide a package with all the evidence they collected, known as the “disclosure package,” to the Crown Prosecutor. You will have the right to access this disclosure package to see the evidence against you. Once you retain one of our lawyers, we will assist you in obtaining the disclosure package, and we will review it with you to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the Crown’s case, as well as any legal defences that may be available to you.
Bail Process and Conditions for Assault Causing Bodily Harm Charges in Toronto
How do I get myself or a loved one out on bail for assault causing bodily harm charges in Toronto?
When charged with assault causing bodily harm, you will likely be kept in custody and require a formal bail hearing to secure your release.
In order to conduct a bail hearing, you will be taken to the Toronto Police Service Division that is responsible for the alleged crime. The bail hearing must be held within 24 hours, a period that starts from the moment of arrest or detention rather than the time when you are brought into the Division.
The phone number for each division is 416-808-[Division Number – 00], so for example, the number for 52 Division is 416-808-5200. The addresses for each Division of the Toronto Police Service can be found here.
Alternatively, you may be held at the Toronto South Detention Centre:
160 Horner Ave
Toronto, ON M8Z 0C2
Tel: 416-354-4030
Loved ones are not able to contact you while you are detained. The police will not release any information to friends or family due to privacy laws. Your lawyer is the only person allowed to contact you. Once the police have verified your lawyer’s details, they will pass on information about your whereabouts, if requested.
Because of these difficulties while you are held in custody, it is best to appoint a competent defence lawyer as soon as possible to manage the legal processes and communicate with loved ones. After an arrest, the police must provide you with the opportunity to call a lawyer in private and, if that happens, stop questioning you.
Once you retain one of our experienced criminal defence lawyers, we will begin working to secure your release on bail.
We will immediately do the following:
- Call the Division where you are being held in Toronto and speak to you.
- Contact the Prosecutor assigned to the bail hearing to start negotiating your release.
- Order and secure a copy of the police information package that details the allegations against you in advance of the bail hearing. This allows the lawyer to make meaningful representations to the Court about why you should be released on bail.
- Conduct either an in-person or teleconference bail hearing to secure your release.
At the time of your bail hearing, you will be transported to the courthouse associated with the particular police division, except for on weekends when Old City Hall holds weekend bail court.
Old City Hall is located at:
60 Queen St W
Toronto, ON M5H 2M3
When you attend your bail hearing, the Judge will consider:
- Is detention necessary to secure your attendance in court?
- Is detention necessary to protect the public from a substantial risk of re-offence?
- Is detention necessary in all the circumstances to maintain confidence in the administration of justice?
Due to the serious nature of assault causing bodily harm allegations, the Crown Prosecutor is likely to request your detention until the charges are completed in the court system. Therefore, the Court may deny your release. If you are released, you will likely face tight restrictions (see below).
Rest assured, we will work to not only secure your release but also to ensure the least restrictive set of bail conditions (including the minimum cash deposit).
Our lawyers are often successful at persuading the Prosecutor in charge of bail to let our clients out. If we can’t convince the Crown, we can conduct a formal bail hearing and work to convince the Court. Even if you are ultimately detained, we can appeal that decision on very short notice through a bail review, which is conducted at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
Where can I pay for bail for assault causing bodily harm charges in Toronto?
If you or a loved one are charged with assault causing bodily harm in Toronto and granted bail, you may be required to provide a cash deposit to secure release. The cash deposit can be paid at any bail hearing office (courthouse) in Ontario. If you live in Ottawa, you can pay bail there for someone detained in Toronto.
Bail hearing offices in Toronto are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The simplest way to pay bail is usually to pay it at the courthouse where the bail hearing was held. For instance, at Old City Hall, you can pay the cash deposit at Room 7 on the ground floor. If you are held at the Toronto South Detention Centre, bail can also be paid there.
In Ontario, because of the prevalence of Justices of the Peace and Judges requiring a surety, various bail programs provide an alternative to a surety. The contact number for the Toronto Bail Program is 416-314-3765.
To pay your own bail, you can make a payment after your hearing, assuming you have sufficient funds with you to do so.
How do I change my release conditions for assault causing bodily harm charges in Toronto?
Release on bail with assault causing bodily harm charges will almost always require a surety, cash, or no-cash deposit.
Furthermore, you can expect tight restrictions, including conditions to refrain from:
- Interacting with the alleged victim,
- Attending the alleged victim’s home or place of work,
- Leaving your house (i.e. house arrest),
- Staying out beyond a certain time (i.e. curfew),
- Breaking any laws,
- Using drugs or alcohol,
- Possessing weapons,
- Possessing firearms,
- Visiting certain places, and/or
- Travelling.
Some of these conditions can prove to be difficult, especially where an alleged victim or witness is a family member of yours. If you share a home with the alleged victim, you are unlikely to be allowed to return home until the matter is addressed again in court. Even if you are paying the rent, are on the lease, or own the home outright. A competent defence lawyer will address this challenge immediately.
The Judge may also impose some additional conditions such as:
- Residing where approved,
- Reporting to probation,
- Attending counselling, and/or
- Maintaining or seeking employment.
A variety of factors will be considered when determining your precise restrictions, including:
- Your criminal history,
- Your physical and mental condition,
- Your history of drug/alcohol usage,
- The nature of the alleged assault causing bodily harm offence,
- The likelihood that you will flee,
- Whether you have stable employment,
- Whether you have stable living arrangements, and
- Whether you have ties to the community.
If you have already been released, at least for the short term, it is critical that you make arrangements to abide by your conditions until they can be changed. Breaching the terms of your release can result in further charges or a revocation of your bail, as well as a forfeiture of any cash paid to secure your release. It is important to take these conditions seriously.
Once the matter is in court, we can work with the Crown Prosecutor to alter your conditions. This includes either adding exceptions to some of the conditions or eliminating them altogether.
If your court date is far away and you cannot wait until then, we can arrange to have the matter dealt with sooner. Our first priority is always to stabilize your release conditions. That way, you will not feel pressured to plead guilty because of the restrictive terms of your release. Once the conditions are manageable and minimally intrusive to your daily routine, we can focus 100% of our attention on defending the case.
Penalties for Assault Causing Bodily Harm Charges in Toronto
If you are convicted of assault causing bodily harm, you can expect to face significant penalties. It is a hybrid offence, which means that the Crown can elect to proceed by way of indictment (more serious) or by summary offence (less serious). This decision will be made based on the circumstances of your offence.
The Criminal Code of Canada outlines the maximum punishment for assault causing bodily harm:
- Indictable offence: Up to 10 years’ imprisonment,
- Summary offence: Up to 2 years’ less a day imprisonment.
Some aggravating factors that can increase the likelihood of jailtime are:
- The offence was committed in a domestic situation;
- The offence was committed while out on bail;
- The offence was committed for the benefit of, in association with, or at the direction of a criminal organization;
- The offence involved the use of a prohibited firearm; or
- You are not a resident of Canada.
In addition to the immediate penalties resulting from a conviction for assault causing bodily harm, it can also have negative impacts on your future. You may have trouble securing employment in the field of your choice. This is especially the case for roles that require interacting with children, the elderly, or other vulnerable sectors of society. The lifelong criminal record that results from a conviction can also hinder immigration and travel, and can cause child custody issues.
Therefore, even if you intend on accepting responsibility for this type of offence, it is worthwhile to explore your options and consider all the possible penalties. Often, good representation can result in no criminal record. Furthermore, a community-based sentence may be obtained even where the Crown is seeking jail time.
Rest assured, our lawyers will work hard to defend you so that you are not saddled with the consequences of a criminal conviction for assault causing bodily harm. In fact, we can canvass a range of sentencing options with the Prosecutors that will either leave you with no criminal record or impose minimal restrictions on your liberty after sentencing. To learn more about potential non-criminal resolutions, please visit our Resolutions page, or read our FAQ on resolutions and other sentencing options.
Defending Assault Causing Bodily Harm Charges in Toronto
What are the best defences to assault causing bodily harm charges in Toronto?
In assault causing bodily harm cases, the defences that may be available to you depend on the facts of your case.
In general, the best defences are:
- Factual Innocence: This is usually the strongest defence because the facts and the evidence do not support you causing the assault or other basic elements of the offence. This could include:
- Identity: In some circumstances where the offence was not recorded by surveillance footage, or the footage is poor quality, you may be able to raise an identity defence. For example, authorities could have made a mistake in identifying you as the perpetrator based on the poor quality of the footage. In order to effectively raise this defence, you may need corroborative evidence, such as an alibi to where you were at the time of the offence.
- No assault: If you can challenge the elements of an assault, then this will challenge a conviction. For example, if you had consent to apply force, this could challenge the physical element of the offence.
- No bodily harm: If you can challenge the element of the offence that requires you to have caused bodily harm, then it will be difficult for the Crown to convict you of this offence. Bear in mind, however, that you can still be charged of the lesser offence of common assault.
- Self-defence: If you committed the assault in order to defend yourself against an attacker, this will challenge the assault causing bodily harm charge. It is important to note, however, that your actions must be proportional to the attack you were defending yourself from.
- Defending Someone Else: Reasonable force or the threat of force can also be used to defend someone else against an unlawful attack, provided there was no intent to cause death or grievous bodily harm.
- Defending Property: Reasonable force or the threat of force can also be used to defend property, though this may be a weaker defence in many situations.
- Violation of Constitutional Rights: The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms sets out your rights before and after your arrest. If the police fail to abide by these rights, it could aid in your defence.
While the Crown must prove the elements of the offence beyond a reasonable doubt, you may bear some responsibility in raising certain defences at trial. The burden of proof remains high for this kind of prosecution. This means that there are many successful defence strategies that our experienced defence lawyers can take, depending on the circumstances of your case.
The availability and strength of any defence depends entirely on the specific facts of your case. Our lawyers have significant experience assessing the availability and strengths of various potential defences in assault causing bodily harm cases, as well as presenting any and all available defences to the Court at trial. Even if you believe that you will be found guilty, it is important that you obtain a legal opinion about defences that may be available to you.
How can I help defend assault causing bodily harm charges in Toronto?
If you have been charged with assault causing bodily harm in Toronto, the following can help your lawyer build a strong defence:
- Provide your lawyer with a statement about what happened;
- Collect and maintain all documents and records about the event;
- Gather a list of witnesses that may support your version of events; and
- Log any relevant texts, emails, phone calls or photographic evidence.
As soon as you are released on bail, you should start to gather any information that may be of use to your lawyer. What information is relevant will depend on the facts in your case. If you are uncertain what information to collect, you should contact one of our lawyers immediately to create a plan of action for gathering information.
If you are truly proactive about the matter, consider doing the following:
- Secure proof of employment;
- Secure reference letters;
- Enroll in counselling (anger management/substance abuse/parenting);
- Secure a record of prescriptions; and
- Secure a record of any mental health conditions you suffer from.
These steps can be very helpful for building an effective defence (or convincing the Prosecutor to drop the charges altogether).
What can a lawyer do to help me defend against assault causing bodily harm charges in Toronto?
As we start preparing your defence by examining police actions and the evidence against you, there are certain defence strategies that can be used to aid your cause, including:
- Assembling documents, photographs, texts, etc. that contradict the allegation and support your defence;
- Gathering evidence from witnesses that support your version of events;
- Identifying mistakes in the actions of the police, such as Charter breaches;
- Uncovering administrative/systemic errors, such as “Jordan delay,” non-disclosure, lost or destroyed evidence, etc.; and
- Finding weaknesses or “holes” in the Crown’s case that may make it difficult or Impossible for them to establish the elements of the offence.
What’s Next?
Most of the information above relates to simple assault causing bodily harm cases, which can still be complex and fact specific. The circumstances of your case will likely further complicate the matter.
We have tried our best to provide a general outline of what you can expect if you find yourself in this situation, but this is just the tip of the iceberg.
To learn more about how we can help, please contact our team of Assault Causing Bodily Harm Lawyers. We will conduct a thorough review of your situation and tailor a precise strategy that targets your successful defence.
