What counts as bodily harm in Queensland?

Bodily harm means any bodily injury that interferes with health or comfort. It is a low threshold. Bruising, swelling, a split lip, scratches and a bloodied nose have all been treated as bodily harm. It is a lower level of injury than grievous bodily harm, which involves permanent injury, serious disfigurement or a danger to life if untreated.

Will I go to prison for assault occasioning bodily harm?

Not necessarily. The maximum is 7 years, but courts impose the full range of sentences and many matters resolve with a fine, probation, community service or a wholly suspended term. Actual custody is more likely where there is serious injury, a weapon, an offence committed in company, a domestic violence context or a relevant criminal history.

Is assault occasioning bodily harm heard in the Magistrates Court?

It can be. Section 339 is an indictable offence, but many of these matters are dealt with summarily in the Magistrates Court, where the maximum penalty a magistrate can impose is lower. Whether a matter stays in the Magistrates Court or goes to the District Court depends on the circumstances and on elections available to the prosecution and defence.

Can the complainant drop the charge?

No. Once a charge is laid, the decision to continue rests with the prosecution, not the complainant. A complainant who no longer wants to proceed can tell police, and that can influence the assessment of the evidence, but it does not end the matter automatically. Withdrawing a statement can also create problems for the complainant.

Crime

Assault occasioning bodily harm in Queensland

Published 4 January 2021 · Updated 25 March 2021

What the charge requires

Assault occasioning bodily harm is where a person:

unlawfully assaults another person; and
causes bodily harm to that person; but
the injury does not amount to grievous bodily harm, and the circumstances do not make it a serious assault.

Unlawful assault

Some applications of force are lawful. A tackle in a rugby match is an obvious example. So the first requirement is that the assault was unlawful, meaning it was not authorised, justified or excused, or that it went beyond what was consented to.

Bodily harm was caused

The general definition of assault in Queensland is broad enough to catch conduct that causes no injury at all. This charge requires an injury. "Bodily harm" means any bodily injury that interferes with health or comfort.

The injury is not grievous bodily harm

Grievous bodily harm is a separate and more serious offence. It covers injuries such as the loss of a distinct part or organ of the body, serious disfigurement, or an injury that, left untreated, would endanger or be likely to endanger life or cause permanent injury to health.

Serious assault, sometimes loosely called aggravated assault, covers assaults committed in defined circumstances, such as an assault on a police officer in the execution of their duty or on a person aged 60 or over.

Examples

A charge may be laid where a person is alleged to have:

punched someone in a fight and broken their nose;
thrown an object at someone and caused bruising;
caused redness, swelling, bruising or scratching;
bent someone’s arm so that it broke.

The injuries in real matters are frequently at the lower end of that range. That does not make the charge minor, because the maximum penalty is the same either way and it is the sentencing discretion that does the work.

What police have to prove

To make out the charge, the prosecution must prove beyond reasonable doubt that you:

applied force of any kind to another person, directly or indirectly, including by striking or touching;
did so deliberately, or recklessly as to the consequences;
had no lawful excuse, including that the other person did not consent in circumstances where consent was capable of being given; and
caused bodily harm, but not grievous bodily harm.

Defences

Even where the prosecution can prove the physical acts, there may be an answer to the charge. Possible defences include:

self defence;
defence of another person;
defence of property;
accident, meaning the event was neither intended nor foreseen as a possible consequence and would not reasonably have been foreseen;
compulsion or duress; and
extraordinary emergency.

Provocation is also relevant to some assault charges. Go through the full circumstances of the incident with your solicitor so that anything available is identified early, because some defences depend on evidence that disappears quickly.

Penalties and alternatives

The maximum is 7 years imprisonment, or 10 years in the aggravated forms. That is the ceiling, not the expectation.

Depending on the circumstances and the person, a court may impose a fine, probation, community service, a suspended sentence, or an intensive correction order, which is a sentence of imprisonment of 12 months or less served in the community under supervision.

Some matters are suitable for justice mediation, which can sometimes be negotiated. That requires the complainant to agree, and usually involves an apology and some form of compensation. Where it succeeds, it can affect whether the charge proceeds at all.

If you have been charged

Get advice before you are interviewed. If police ask you to take part in a record of interview, you can ask for time to speak to a solicitor without refusing outright. What is said in an interview is very difficult to walk back later.

A solicitor can go through the incident with you, work out whether the elements can actually be made out, identify defences, and advise on the realistic sentencing range if the matter proceeds as a plea.

Last reviewed 3 August 2026 by the TWC Lawyers team. Queensland penalty units and court fees are indexed on 1 July each year. Check current figures before you rely on them, or ask us.