3. Homicide Relates Offences and 4. Admissible hearsay statement

Question 1

S178 - infanticide element

Answer 1

(1) where a woman causes the death of any child of hers under the age of 10 years in a manner that amounts to culpable homicide and where at the time of the offence the balance of her mind was disturbed by reason of not having fully recovered from the effect of giving birth to that child or any other child or by reason of the effect of lactation or by reason of any disorder consequent upon childbirth or lactation to such as extend that she should not be held fully responsible she is guilty of infanticide and not of murder or manslaughter and is liable to imprisonment for 3 years.

Question 2

S152 duty of parent or guardian to provide necessaries and protect from injury

Answer 2

Everyone who is a parent, or is a person in place of a parent or who has actual care or charge of a child under 18 years is under legal duty to….

Question 3

Abandoning a child

Answer 3

S154 - criminal act to abandon a child aged under 6 years old

Question 4

Preventable death, Blaue

Answer 4

Blaue
Those who use violence must take their victims as they find them.

Liability depends on the victims mens rea not on the victims subsequent actions

Question 5

Withdrawal of life support, Tarei caselaw

Answer 5

Court held that the withdrawal of any form of life support system is not treatment. To withdraw life support does not cause death but removes the possibility of extending the persons life through artificial means

Question 6

S180 suicide pact element

Answer 6

(1) everyone who in pursuance of a suicide pact kills and other person is guilty of manslaughter and not murder
(2) where 2 or more persons enter into a suicide pact, in pursuance of it one or more of them kills himself any survivor is guilty of being party to a death under a suicide pact
(3) the term suicide pact means a common agreement between 2 or more people having for its object death of all of them, whether or not each is to take their own life

Question 7

S181 concealing dead body of child

Answer 7

Who disposed of the dead body of any child in any manner with intent to conceal the fact or its birth whether the child died before during or after birth

Question 8

18(1) - General admissibility of hearsay

Answer 8

Hearsay statement is admissible in any processing if-
(A) the circumstances relating to the statement provide reasonable assurance that the statement is reliable and
(B) either -
(I) the maker of the statement is unavailable as a witness or
(ii) the judge considers that undue expense or delay would be cause if the maker of the statement were required to be a witness

Question 9

What are some circumstances to consider in regards to admissible hearsay statements

Answer 9

The nature of the statement
The contents of the statement
The circumstances relating to the making of the statement
Circumstances relating to the veracity of the person making the statement
Circumstances relating to the accuracy of the observation of the person