Assaulting another person is a criminal offence in Western Australia.  An assault occurs when one person strikes another person – applying force of any kind to another person, either directly or indirectly, without the person’s consent, or with their consent if it is obtained by fraud. It actually doesn’t take much for one person’s action to be considered an assault on another person.  For example, blowing cigarette smoke in someone’s face has amounted to an assault, rubbing up against another person on a crowded bus has led to an assault charge. The offence of assault is broken up into various kinds of assault or species of assault as they are sometimes referred to.  Assaults range from the most trivial often dealt with by way of a fine through to the most serious attracting an immediate term of imprisonment.