Whether bodily harm should be punished as aggravated bodily harm

Justices: Matningsdal, Møse, Webster, Steinsvik, Sverdrup

The penalty for violation section 273 of the Penal Code was 60 hours' community sentence served over a period of 120 days. The convicted person, who was 17 at the time of the act, had hit the aggrieved person in the head with a liquor bottle that broke. The aggrieved party suffered a cut to his forehead that needed stitches, and he became unwell and rested in bed for one week after the incidence. The Supreme Court found, unlike the Court of Appeal, that section 274 of the Penal Code was not applicable. It was stated that if an act has not had consequences that exceed to a mentionable extent what is required under section 273, the starting point is that this provision is applicable although one of the criteria in section 274 subsection 1 (a)–(f) is met. If, on the other hand, the act has had consequences as mentioned in section 274, second sentence, and the offender has acted negligently with regard to these consequences, section 274 applies as a main rule. In the specific case, there had been no such consequences. The fact that the injury had been inflicted with a particularly dangerous implement, see section 274 subsection 1 (f), was not sufficient for the offence to be covered by section 274. The sentence was reduced due to the convicted person's age and because he had acted in self-defence.