1. Culpable Homicide Flashcards
The critical factors to consider for a charge of murder are whether the offender intended to:
- kill the person, or
- cause bodily injury that the offender knew was likely to cause death.
Define Homicide (S158)
Organisations culpability to homicide?
R v Murray Wright Ltd (Organisations) - Because…..
Homicide is the killing of a human being by another, directly or indirectly, by any means whatsoever.
Organisations can be convicted of party to manslaughter, but not to murder
R v Murray Wright Ltd
Because the killing must be done by a human being, an organisation cannot be convicted as a principal offender.
S159 - When does child becomes a human being, and is therefore capable of being murdered under section 158
A child becomes a human being when….
B C N
The killing of such child is homicide if?
A child becomes a human being when it has completely proceeded in a living state from the body of its mother, whether it has breathed or not, whether it has an independent circulation or not, and whether the navel string is severed or not.
The killing of such child is homicide if it dies in consequence of injuries received before, during, or after birth.
160(1) - Homicide may be either culpable or not culpable.
What is culpable homicide?
Homicide is culpable when? S160 (2)?
Culpable homicide means the killing is blameworthy. It includes murder, manslaughter or infanticide.
(2) Homicide is culpable when it consists in the killing of any person—
(a) By an unlawful act; or
(b) By an omission without lawful excuse to perform or observe any legal duty; or
(c) By both combined; or
(d) By causing that person by threats or fear of violence, or by deception, to do an act which causes his death; or
(e) By wilfully frightening a child under the age of 16 years or a sick person.
Unlawful Act – means a breach of any Act, regulation, rule, or bylaw.
What does R v Myatt state regarding an act before assessing if its an unlawful act?
It must be an act likely to….
R v Myatt
[Before a breach of any Act, regulation or bylaw would be an unlawful act under s 160 for the purposes of culpable homicide]It must be an act likely to do harm to the deceased or to some class of persons of whom he was one.
In common law, allegations of culpable homicide have been supported where the offenders have caused death by particular circumstances.
- committing arson
- giving a child an excessive amount of alcohol to drink
- placing hot cinders and straw on a drunk person to frighten them
- supplying heroin to a person who subsequently dies from an overdose
- throwing a large piece of concrete from a motorway overbridge into the
path of an approaching car - conducting an illegal abortion where the mother dies.
Culpable homicide includes any death caused by an omission, without lawful excuse, to perform or observe any legal duty as defined by s160(2)(b).
Duties imposed by statute are mainly common law duties that have been embodied in statute. The Crimes Act 1961 defines duties to:??
- Duty to provide the necessaries and protect from injury (s151)
- Duty of parent or guardian to provide necessaries and protect from injury (s152)
- Duty provide necessaries as an employer (s153)
- Duty of persons doing dangerous acts, such as surgery (s155)
- Duty of persons in charge of dangerous things, such as machinery(s156)
- Duty to avoid omissions dangerous to life (s157).
A person is guilty of culpable murder if they cause the victim by threats, fear of violence or deception to do an act that results in the victim’s death. s160(2)(d)
How does R v Tomars formulate the issues?
R v Tomars - formulates the issues in the following way:
1. Was the deceased threatened by, in fear of or deceived by the defendant?
- If they were, did such threats, fear or deception cause the deceased to do the act that caused their death?
- Was the act a natural consequence of the actions of the defendant, in the sense that reasonable and responsible people in the defendant’s position at the time could reasonably have foreseen the consequences?
- Did these foreseeable actions of the victim contribute in a [significant] way to his death?
In relation to Section 160(2)(d) examples of culpable homicide which has been caused by the victims actions, prompted by threats on fear of violence
- jumps or falls out of a window and dies because they think they are
going to be assaulted - jumps into a river to escape an attack and drowns
- who has been assaulted and believes their life is in danger, jumps from a
train and is killed.
In general, no one is criminally responsible for the killing of another by any influence of the mind. What are the exceptions to this rule?
S163
except by wilfully frightening a child under the age of 16 years or a sick person
Proof of death: To establish the death, you must prove the:
In the event that the body is not located, R v Horry
Death should be provable by such circumstances…
- death occurred
- deceased is identified as the person who has been killed
- the killing is culpable
Death can be proved by direct and/or circumstantial evidence.
R v Horry
Death should be provable by such circumstances as render it morally certain and leave no ground for reasonable doubt – that the circumstantial evidence should be so cogent and compelling as to convince a jury that upon no rational hypothesis other than murder can the facts be accounted for.
What are examples of justifiable acts that result in death which may result in no criminal or civil liability
- homicide committed in self-defence (s48)
- homicide committed to prevent suicide or commission of an offence which would be likely to cause immediate and serious injury to the person or property of any-one (s41).
