Western Australia Strangulation Law
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
The Criminal Code
Part V Offences against the person and relating to parental rights and duties and against the reputation of individuals
Chapter XXIX Offences endangering life or health s. 298
- Suffocation and strangulation
A person commits a crime if the person unlawfully impedes another person’s normal breathing, blood circulation, or both, by manually, or by using any other aid —
- (a) blocking (completely or partially) another person’s nose, mouth, or both; or
- (b) applying pressure on, or to, another person’s neck.
Alternative offence: s. 313. Penalty:
(8)
In subsections (5) and (6) —
prescribed circumstances means any of these circumstances —
(a)
where the offence is committed in the circumstances set out in subsection (4)(a) or (b) and the public officer is —
- (i) a police officer; or
- (ii) a prison officer as defined in the Prisons
Act 1981 section 3(1); or
(iiia) a person appointed under the Young Offenders
Act 1994 section 11(1a)(a); or
(iii) a security officer as defined in the Public
Transport Authority Act 2003 section 3;
where the offence is committed in the circumstances set
out in subsection (4)(d)(i), (f) or (g).
(b)
(a) (b)
if the offence is committed in circumstances of aggravation, imprisonment for 7 years; or
in any other case, imprisonment for 5 years.
Summary conviction penalty:
- (a) in a case to which the Penalty paragraph (a) applies, imprisonment for 3 years and a fine of $36 000; or
- (b) in a case to which the Penalty paragraph (b) applies, imprisonment for 2 years and a fine of $24 000.
[Section 298 inserted: No. 30 of 2020 s. 6.]
