24 February 2012

Spitter in Civic

| Auntyem
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Today a lovely friend of mine was walking towards the Canberra Centre to buy her lunch when a man approached her (and without asking her for anything) he spat on her and ran off. Naturally, she was very upset and shaken, but she was also incredibly embarrassed and went home, showered and returned to work. Apparently other people saw this and ignored it.

I know a few people on this site work in Civic, so if you see someone spitting at people, please don’t ignore it – if you’re in a hurry all you need to do is call the police when you get back to work. Just tell them you’ve witnessed a situation and give them a description so we can get creeps like this off our streets.

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farnarkler said :

If the AFP won’t do anything then lodge a formal complaint

Has to be reported to them before they can do anything. I’m under the (possibly mistaken) impression that the incident in the OP wasn’t reported?

Jim Jones said :

c_c said :

Felix the Cat said :

As unpleasant and unhygenic as being spat on is I don’t think it’s a criminal offence so I doubt the Police will do much.

It’s assault for f-sake. Of course it’s criminal. People who spit on police get charged for assault.

What about that thing where you hold someone down and almost spit on them, but at the last moment you suck it back up … does that count as assault?

Holding someone down would count as assault

Rollersk8r said :

! Plus according to NSW Police it’s perfectly reasonable to punch someone repeatedly in the head to stop them from spitting or biting etc!

I definitely need a cite on that pal. I suspect your only source is your imagination

this problem could be solved with speed cameras.

I’m quite surprised this happened during the day, all the spitting i’ve seen has been committed by drunken bogans outside pubs.

neanderthalsis said :

Felix the Cat said :

As unpleasant and unhygenic as being spat on is I don’t think it’s a criminal offence so I doubt the Police will do much.

I was under the impression that spitting is considered to be an assault. Indeed in R v Cotesworth SC(NSW), Hulme J, 17 October 1997, contacting another by spitting on them has been held to constitute an unlawful application of force or a battery.

Some guy in America was charged with assault for farting in the presence of an officer.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/weird/drunk-man-jose-cruz-charged-for-assault-farts-on-policeman/story-e6frev20-1111117581109

Obviously a different legal system over there, but it does suggest assault can be interpreted as more than physically touching somebody.

If the AFP won’t do anything then lodge a formal complaint

Thanks for all your comments. I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks this is a disgusting act.

I’d love to be able to land a good punch on the grub if he did this to me, but I’d probably be too busy puking.

I live close to Civic and work there and sometimes wonder what has become of the place. I agree with JazzyJess when she say’s it’s becoming a dreg magnet.

My main focus in writing this was expressed by Schmeah – it takes 10 seconds to stop and ask someone if they’re okay. Hopefully, people who read this might keep an eye out for others and if they notice something (like what happened to my friend or JazyyJess) they don’t just assume the person can handle the situation alone.

Jim Jones you cracked me up with your comment – my older brother used to do that to me!

Jim Jones said :

c_c said :

Felix the Cat said :

As unpleasant and unhygenic as being spat on is I don’t think it’s a criminal offence so I doubt the Police will do much.

It’s assault for f-sake. Of course it’s criminal. People who spit on police get charged for assault.

What about that thing where you hold someone down and almost spit on them, but at the last moment you suck it back up … does that count as assault?

Well it counts as gross.

c_c said :

Felix the Cat said :

As unpleasant and unhygenic as being spat on is I don’t think it’s a criminal offence so I doubt the Police will do much.

It’s assault for f-sake. Of course it’s criminal. People who spit on police get charged for assault.

What about that thing where you hold someone down and almost spit on them, but at the last moment you suck it back up … does that count as assault?

Felix the Cat said :

As unpleasant and unhygenic as being spat on is I don’t think it’s a criminal offence so I doubt the Police will do much.

It’s assault for f-sake. Of course it’s criminal. People who spit on police get charged for assault.

rhino said :

Tooks said :

rhino said :

The police would not have been able to do anything at all even if it was considered illegal (which is questionable). I have gone to them complaining of assault in the city and they couldn’t do anything. Your best bet was to punch him in the face. Apparently they can’t track anyone down for doing that and you could get your justice that way.

The only way he could have been busted by cops is if he then got in a car and sped slightly. They cannot do anything about assault, vandalism or theft, just speeding.

Your first comment was silly enough, no reason to repeat yourself.

rhino said :

KeenGolfer said :

Felix the Cat said :

As unpleasant and unhygenic as being spat on is I don’t think it’s a criminal offence so I doubt the Police will do much.

Incorrect. It is an assault. People get charged with assault for spitting quite regularly. If the person is HIV or Hep C positive and the spit was in the face it could be an ‘act endangering life’.

Doesn’t really matter whther it is or isn’t. Being punched in the face is definitely assault, and yet they couldn’t do anything about that.

Police need sufficient evidence to charge someone with assault. I’m guessing in your case, they didn’t. If you tell us the full story, it might be clear why they ‘couldn’t do anything about it.’

Yeah sorry, it didn’t seem to post the first time so I tried again but it ended up going through.

But my case was similar, a random unknown person who cannot be identified by anyone around. Therefore they can’t do anything. They could do the sketch artist type thing and put it out there, but it is doubtful that anyone who knows them will give them up. Maybe if you followed them home to their house and you had heaps of witnesses who also did the same. Otherwise good luck getting anything done about it.

Unfortunate, and frustrating for you, but that’s the way these things go sometimes. Having been on the end of a random flogging, with no result (from police), I know how you feel. Random assaults with no witnesses or CCTV etc are difficult to solve.

That is simply disgusting. I hope your friend is ok and no doubt she ‘s equally upset by the fact that no one even stopped to ask is she was ok .. it takes 10 seconds people!

On a side note, one of the Northbourne windscreen washers has a terrible, terrible spitting habit .. so maybe it’s going around?

Tooks said :

rhino said :

The police would not have been able to do anything at all even if it was considered illegal (which is questionable). I have gone to them complaining of assault in the city and they couldn’t do anything. Your best bet was to punch him in the face. Apparently they can’t track anyone down for doing that and you could get your justice that way.

The only way he could have been busted by cops is if he then got in a car and sped slightly. They cannot do anything about assault, vandalism or theft, just speeding.

Your first comment was silly enough, no reason to repeat yourself.

rhino said :

KeenGolfer said :

Felix the Cat said :

As unpleasant and unhygenic as being spat on is I don’t think it’s a criminal offence so I doubt the Police will do much.

Incorrect. It is an assault. People get charged with assault for spitting quite regularly. If the person is HIV or Hep C positive and the spit was in the face it could be an ‘act endangering life’.

Doesn’t really matter whther it is or isn’t. Being punched in the face is definitely assault, and yet they couldn’t do anything about that.

Police need sufficient evidence to charge someone with assault. I’m guessing in your case, they didn’t. If you tell us the full story, it might be clear why they ‘couldn’t do anything about it.’

Yeah sorry, it didn’t seem to post the first time so I tried again but it ended up going through.

But my case was similar, a random unknown person who cannot be identified by anyone around. Therefore they can’t do anything. They could do the sketch artist type thing and put it out there, but it is doubtful that anyone who knows them will give them up. Maybe if you followed them home to their house and you had heaps of witnesses who also did the same. Otherwise good luck getting anything done about it.

rhino said :

The police would not have been able to do anything at all even if it was considered illegal (which is questionable). I have gone to them complaining of assault in the city and they couldn’t do anything. Your best bet was to punch him in the face. Apparently they can’t track anyone down for doing that and you could get your justice that way.

The only way he could have been busted by cops is if he then got in a car and sped slightly. They cannot do anything about assault, vandalism or theft, just speeding.

Your first comment was silly enough, no reason to repeat yourself.

rhino said :

KeenGolfer said :

Felix the Cat said :

As unpleasant and unhygenic as being spat on is I don’t think it’s a criminal offence so I doubt the Police will do much.

Incorrect. It is an assault. People get charged with assault for spitting quite regularly. If the person is HIV or Hep C positive and the spit was in the face it could be an ‘act endangering life’.

Doesn’t really matter whther it is or isn’t. Being punched in the face is definitely assault, and yet they couldn’t do anything about that.

Police need sufficient evidence to charge someone with assault. I’m guessing in your case, they didn’t. If you tell us the full story, it might be clear why they ‘couldn’t do anything about it.’

EvanJames said :

Felix the Cat said :

As unpleasant and unhygenic as being spat on is I don’t think it’s a criminal offence so I doubt the Police will do much.

but the police SHOULD do much. People seem to have the feeling that they have carte blanche to commit anti-social acts, and the police won’t do much. Can’t we as citizens say that actually, we want the police to get out there and stop this from becoming a common occurrance?

If you want to see how regularly police charge people with assault, sit in the Magistrates Court some day. You may be surprised.

Rollersk8r said :

Felix the Cat said :

As unpleasant and unhygenic as being spat on is I don’t think it’s a criminal offence so I doubt the Police will do much.

I beg to differ on the criminal offence! Plus according to NSW Police it’s perfectly reasonable to punch someone repeatedly in the head to stop them from spitting or biting etc!

Yep, it’s called self defence, dimwit.

A very unpleasant assault.

As for spitting generally, when I was a young bloke the spitters were generally immature 13-15 year olds (males of course), but now they seem to include a disappointing number of 16-18 year olds acting out a very predictable swagger/ lighting up/ spitting routine (around mall entrances, college forecourts and bus interchanges in particular).

It could be covered under several offences – Common Assault and Offensive behaviour are the two that come to mind but I am sure there are more.

dtc said :

Frustrated said :

I had a piece of scum driving a Subaru WRX spit at my car on the Parkway one day last year.

I had the window down, and he drove up beside me yelling abuse, and spat at my car.

If you’re gonna drive a Pajero with the window open blaring Shannon Noll, you’re gonna get spat on.

LOL

Frustrated said :

I had a piece of scum driving a Subaru WRX spit at my car on the Parkway one day last year.

I had the window down, and he drove up beside me yelling abuse, and spat at my car.

If you’re gonna drive a Pajero with the window open blaring Shannon Noll, you’re gonna get spat on.

I had a piece of scum driving a Subaru WRX spit at my car on the Parkway one day last year.

I had the window down, and he drove up beside me yelling abuse, and spat at my car.

harryhaller said :

Spitting can be dangerous if the spitter has HIV and hits your eye for example. Just sayin’… I also don’t think police would ignore that issue if you reported it.

For the sake of public knowledge, HIV is in extremely low quantities in saliva, so it’s not transmittable that way. So you can’t get it from sharing a glass etc.

KeenGolfer said :

Felix the Cat said :

As unpleasant and unhygenic as being spat on is I don’t think it’s a criminal offence so I doubt the Police will do much.

Incorrect. It is an assault. People get charged with assault for spitting quite regularly. If the person is HIV or Hep C positive and the spit was in the face it could be an ‘act endangering life’.

Doesn’t really matter whther it is or isn’t. Being punched in the face is definitely assault, and yet they couldn’t do anything about that.

Thoroughly Smashed10:59 am 24 Feb 12

harryhaller said :

Spitting can be dangerous if the spitter has HIV and hits your eye for example.

I saw that movie, I thought it was pretty good. The sequel was shit though.

Felix the Cat said :

As unpleasant and unhygenic as being spat on is I don’t think it’s a criminal offence so I doubt the Police will do much.

Incorrect. It is an assault. People get charged with assault for spitting quite regularly. If the person is HIV or Hep C positive and the spit was in the face it could be an ‘act endangering life’.

Spitting can be dangerous if the spitter has HIV and hits your eye for example. Just sayin’… I also don’t think police would ignore that issue if you reported it.

Time to fill Civic with phlegm cameras.

Felix the Cat said :

I don’t think it’s a criminal offence

Spitting on someone is absolutely a criminal offence

The police would not have been able to do anything at all even if it was considered illegal (which is questionable). I have gone to them complaining of assault in the city and they couldn’t do anything. Your best bet was to punch him in the face. Apparently they can’t track anyone down for doing that and you could get your justice that way.

The only way he could have been busted by cops is if he then got in a car and sped slightly. They cannot do anything about assault, vandalism or theft, just speeding.

The police would not do anything. I’ve gone to them for random assault including physical violence and they couldn’t do anything. So spitting, regardless of whether it is in fact illegal or not, would not be any different. It would just be a waste of time. The only way you could have gotten justice is by punching him at the time. They wouldn’t be able to ping you for it and you’d get your justice haha. They only seem to be able to ping people for speeding, not assault, vandalism or theft.

Spitting is assault.

Felix the Cat said :

As unpleasant and unhygenic as being spat on is I don’t think it’s a criminal offence so I doubt the Police will do much.

Surely it would come under battery or assault of some kind. If I was to spray my own blood on you surely thats criminal. Spitting would be the same.

Personally I wouldve flattened the deadbeat and made sure the only thing he can spit is through a straw.

Felix the Cat said :

As unpleasant and unhygenic as being spat on is I don’t think it’s a criminal offence so I doubt the Police will do much.

but the police SHOULD do much. People seem to have the feeling that they have carte blanche to commit anti-social acts, and the police won’t do much. Can’t we as citizens say that actually, we want the police to get out there and stop this from becoming a common occurrance?

neanderthalsis10:08 am 24 Feb 12

Felix the Cat said :

As unpleasant and unhygenic as being spat on is I don’t think it’s a criminal offence so I doubt the Police will do much.

I was under the impression that spitting is considered to be an assault. Indeed in R v Cotesworth SC(NSW), Hulme J, 17 October 1997, contacting another by spitting on them has been held to constitute an unlawful application of force or a battery.

Felix the Cat said :

As unpleasant and unhygenic as being spat on is I don’t think it’s a criminal offence so I doubt the Police will do much.

I beg to differ on the criminal offence! Plus according to NSW Police it’s perfectly reasonable to punch someone repeatedly in the head to stop them from spitting or biting etc!

Felix the Cat said :

As unpleasant and unhygenic as being spat on is I don’t think it’s a criminal offence so I doubt the Police will do much.

Assault? Public nuisance? Lots of options if they want one, I’m sure.

Throwing a water bomb or wetting someone with a water gun will result in an assault charge.

If no an offence, go spit on a Cop and see what happens to you.

Oh how awful for her. When I was walking through Garema Place with my sister and young son recently a well dressed middle aged man walked up to us and unleashed a tirade of sexually explicit language. Fortunately my son is too little to have understood his meaning but my sister and I were incredibly upset. Not the same as being spat on but very unnerving. That place is a magnet for the dregs of society.

Felix the Cat9:20 am 24 Feb 12

As unpleasant and unhygenic as being spat on is I don’t think it’s a criminal offence so I doubt the Police will do much.

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