Dust Falls Within the Legal Definition of a Weapon According to the Moroccan Court of Cassation

Summary of the Case Facts: 

The facts of the case are summarized as follows: on April 13, 2024, the defendant filed an appeal in cassation against the decision issued by the Criminal Appeals Chamber of the Court of First Instance in Zagora on April 12, 2021, in Case No. 2020/2801/41. This decision upheld the first instance judgment, which convicted her of the misdemeanor of assault and battery with a weapon, sentencing her to two months' suspended imprisonment and a definitive fine of 1000 Moroccan Dirhams, in addition to ordering her to bear the costs and minimum civil coercion.

Court of Cassation Decision:

Regarding Form: 

The Court ruled that the application conforms to the law and is therefore formally admissible.
Regarding Substance / Reply to the Grounds for Cassation
Concerning the First Ground for Cassation, based on Lack of Legal Basis and Insufficient Reasoning: 

The appellant argued that the challenged court adopted the reasoning of the first instance judgment without summoning the declarants of the official report, including the complainant, to ascertain that the latter had subjected the appellant to insults and verbal abuse. This, she claimed, provoked her into committing the act for which she was convicted, thus rendering the decision subject to cassation.
However, contrary to what was raised: on the one hand, the judicial police did not hear any declarant, so the challenged court cannot be faulted for not summoning declarants to infer the act of insult and verbal abuse constituting the claimed state of provocation. On the other hand, its affirmation of the first instance judgment allows it to adopt its reasons and grounds whenever they are sound and lawful. By discussing the case and concluding based on the legal and acceptable reasoning it adopted, the court has properly justified its conviction. Furthermore, the court's summoning of the complainant is subject to its discretionary power. Therefore, its decision is well-founded and sufficiently reasoned, and this ground is baseless, except for what contradicts the facts, which is without merit.

Concerning the Second Ground for Cassation, based on a Material Breach of Law by Violating Article 303 of the Criminal Code: 

The appellant argued that the court issuing the challenged decision upheld the first instance judgment, which convicted her of the misdemeanor of assault and battery with a weapon, considering her use of sand in assaulting the victim as a weapon within the meaning of the aforementioned article. Additionally, she noted that the victim did not provide any medical certificate, which, she argued, renders the decision subject to cassation.
However, by virtue of Article 303 of the Criminal Code, "a weapon is defined as all firearms, explosives, and all piercing, blunt, cutting, or strangling devices, tools, or objects." The court, having discussed the case in light of what was presented to it and having established that the appellant struck the victim with dust on his face, considered, within its authority to assess the facts, that the said material constitutes a weapon. In doing so, it relied on the legal concept of a weapon as defined by the aforementioned article, taking into account the location of the injury (the face), the organs targeted, and the nature of the material used. Therefore, its decision did not violate any provision, and this ground is baseless.

For these reasons:

The Court ruled to reject the application. The appellant is ordered to bear the costs, to be collected according to the procedures stipulated for the recovery of criminal action costs, and the period of civil coercion is set at the minimum.

Moroccan Court of Cassation Decision, No. 316, issued on February 17, 2022, Criminal File No. 2021/8/6/15075.

لــمـيــن أشــرف أؤمن بأن الوعي القانوني هو أساس بناء مجتمعات قوية. لهذا، أكرس نفسي كباحث ومختص في الشؤون القانونية والقضائية لتقديم مقالات عميقة وواضحة باللغة العربية. مهمتي هي تمكينك بالمعرفة القانونية اللازمة لتعزيز سيادة القانون في حياتنا اليومية.

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