The reasonable fear of unlawful physical harm has to be immediate.

> On 10 Jul 2015, at 14:47, Gerard Sadlier <gerard.sadlier@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Why not? The tort of assault is completed once one is put in
> reasonable fear of unlawful physical harm, even if no such harm
> results. Do you say that in your example relief should be denied
> because the child only realizes the danger they were in after the
> event? Presumably, if they themselves realize that all these supposed
> acts of kindness have an evil intent at some point and that they are
> in danger of physical harm, they would recover on authedox principles
> of the law of assault (subject perhaps to arguments about the
> immediacy of likely harm)?
>
> What reasons of policy or justice can you identify to refuse relief in
> a case such as you describe, assuming the evidence that grooming was
> with evil intent is present?
>
>> On 7/10/15, Andrew Tettenborn <a.m.tettenborn@swansea.ac.uk> wrote:
>> This programme of abuse was sustained and partly physical. Question: if
>> the grooming is done with evil intent but is ultimately unsuccessful
>> because the child's parents smell a rat and stop it, should there be
>> liability for breach of trust alone? I doubt it, even if the child later
>> finds out and feels aggrieved.
>>
>> Andrew
>>
>>> On 10/07/15 12:14, Hedley, Steve wrote:
>>>
>>> /Walsh v. Byrne /[2015] IEHC 414 (21 May 2015) involved sexual abuse
>>> of the plaintiff by the defendant over a 5-year period (plaintiff then
>>> aged between 11 and 16), involving 'serious breach of trust by the
>>> defendant, for whom the plaintiff had great respect and relied on for
>>> advice and guidance'.
>>>
>>> Per White J:
>>>
>>> "22. In this case, the mental trauma suffered by the plaintiff, is not
>>> just confined to the acts of assault and battery, but arises also as a
>>> result of the consequences of the breach of trust of the defendant who
>>> had played such an important role in the plaintiff's life. The court's
>>> objective consideration of the purpose of the defendant's kindness,
>>> concern and considerable investment of time, to the period when the
>>> abuse stopped was for the insidious purpose of satisfying his own
>>> sexual desire. For those reasons, it is appropriate to extend the law
>>> of tort, to cover what is now a well recognised and established
>>> pattern of wrongdoing, where a child is befriended, where trust is
>>> established and where that friendship and trust is used to perpetrate
>>> sexual abuse.
>>>
>>> "23. The court would define this as a combination of behaviour by
>>> which a child is befriended, to gain his or her confidence and trust
>>> and which includes a process by which a person prepares a child,
>>> significant adults and the environment for the abuse.
>>>
>>> "24. The behaviour can involve many acts of individual kindness, but
>>> with the aim of gaining access to the child and maintaining the
>>> child's compliance with the abuse and secrecy to avoid disclosure."
>>>
>>> The opinion is here
>>> <http://www.courts.ie/Judgments.nsf/09859e7a3f34669680256ef3004a27de/e93169111d94fa5480257e7d0054fd22?OpenDocument>.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> */Steve Hedley/*
>>>
>>> /School of Law/
>>>
>>> /University College Cork/
>>>
>>> /9thlevel.ie <http://9thlevel.ie/>/
>>>
>>> /private-law-theory.org <http://private-law-theory.org/>/
>>
>> --
>>
>>
>> *Andrew Tettenborn*
>> /Professor of Commercial Law, Swansea University/
>>
>> Institute for International Shipping and Trade Law
>> School of Law, University of Swansea
>> Richard Price Building
>> Singleton Park
>> SWANSEA SA2 8PP
>> Phone 01792-602724 / (int) +44-1792-602724
>> Cellphone 07472-708527 / (int) +44-7472-708527
>> Fax 01792-295855 / (int) +44-1792-295855
>>
>>
>>
>> *Andrew Tettenborn*
>> /Athro yn y Gyfraith Fasnachol, Prifysgol Abertawe/
>>
>> Sefydliad y Gyfraith Llongau a Masnach Ryngwladol
>> Ysgol y Gyfraith, Prifysgol Abertawe
>> Adeilad Richard Price
>> Parc Singleton
>> ABERTAWE SA2 8PP
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>> Ffacs 01792-295855 / (rhyngwladol) +44-1792-295855
>>
>>
>>
>> *Lawyer (n):*One versed in circumvention of the law (Ambrose Bierce)
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ***
>>
>>
>>