3. Homicide-Related Offences - Summary

Question 1

Point 1

`

Answer 1

• Infanticide is a charge brought against a mother who has killed her child as a result of her mind being unbalanced due to the effects of giving birth or lactation.

Question 2

Point 2

Answer 2

• Statute and common law impose on various people duties to nurture life adequately and provide safety. A failure to discharge such duties makes
  the person liable to penalties.

Question 3

Point 3

Answer 3

• When a person deliberately injures another person, and the person dies asva result of treatment of those injuries, the person who inflicted the initial
  injuries is responsible for the death. The degree of liability relies on the element of mens rea.

Question 4

Point 4

Answer 4

• Because the law does not recognise a person’s right to consent to death, a person who helps another to commit suicide or who is part of a suicide pact but survives is responsible for the other person’s death. In such cases the surviving person is charged with manslaughter.

Question 5

Point 5

Answer 5

• It is an offence to conceal the body of a dead child.