said by tpiazrule:My point was it didn't matter her intent as it wasn't her property and she had no business tampering with it.
Your point remains inherently incorrect. Intent not only matters - it is
fundamental to a criminal conviction.
said by tpiarule :When someone is caught red handed committing an act that they should not have been committing, it does not matter what their intent was because they were caught in the act of perpetrating the offense.
Just because someone is caught red handed committing an act that they should not have been committing does not mean what they were committing was a criminal act.
said by tpiazrule:It is very black and white here with no grey tones. She was charged with the wrong charge of mischief and that is why she was found not guilty. She wasn't being mischievious that doesn't mean she is not guilty of tampering with someone else's property, in which case the intent of what she was doing would be irrelevant.
Aside from nothing in this world
ever being as black and white as people some people sitting from the comfort of their chair commenting on an Internet message board like to think, mischief
was the correct charge as it pertains to not just damaging property but also interfering with its use. A criminal conviction for mischief however still requires the Crown to prove that said damage and/or interference was willful and deliberate. The judge believed the defense that she had no intention of damaging or interfering with that property and was simply providing animals with water. This was further validated by the company themselves not feeling that there was any serious risk to public safety by the woman giving the pigs water. Without intent to damage or interfere with that property, the crime of mischief has not been committed and the judge found her not guilty.
(for what it's worth, the judge completely rejected the defense of acting in the greater good)
None of this absolves her of any liability in a civil suit, though the onus would now turn to the company in question to prove that they suffered a loss by her actions.
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