Case law (Homicide Law)

Question 1

Blaue

Answer 1

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

S165 Causing death that might have been prevented

E.g. Jehovas witness stabbing

Question 2

Cameron

Answer 2

Recklessness is established if

(a) the defendant recognized that there was a real possibility that:
(i) his actions would bring about the proscribed result and/or
(ii) the proscribed circumstances existed
(b) with regard to the risk those actions were unreasonable

S167 Murder defined

Question 3

Desmond

Answer 3

• Object must be unlawful.
• Accused must know his act is likely to cause death.
• Must be shown that his knowledge accompanied the act causing death.

S167 (d) Murder defined

E.g. liberating prisoners

Question 4

Harpur

Answer 4

• Court may have regard to conduct viewed cumulatively up to the point when it stops.
• Defendant’s conduct may be considered in its entirety.
• How much remains to be done is relevant but not determinative.

S72 Attempts; S173 Attempted Murder

Question 5

Horry

Answer 5

• Death should be provable by circumstances that render it (morally) certain and leave no ground for reasonable doubt.
• The circumstantial evidence should be so cogent and compelling as to convince a jury that the only rational hypothesis is murder.

S160 Cuplable homicide

Question 6

Mane

Answer 6

• For a person to be an accessory, the offence must be complete at the time of their criminal involvement.
• A person cannot be convicted of being an AATF of murder when the actus reus of the alleged criminal conduct was wholly completed before the homicide.

S71 AATF; S176 AATF to murder

Question 7

Murphy

Answer 7

When proving an attempt to commit an offence, it must be shown that the accused’s intention was to commit the substantive offence.

S72 Attempts; S173 Attempted murder

Question 8

Murray Wright Ltd

Answer 8

Because the killing must be done by a human being,

an organization cannot be convicted as a principal offender.

S158 Homicide defined

Question 9

Myatt

Answer 9

Before a breach of any Act | bylaw | regulation would be an unlawful act under S160 for the purposes of culpable homicide,

it must be an act likely to do harm to the deceased | some class of persons of whom he was one

S160 Culpable homicide

Question 10

Piri

Answer 10

• Recklessness involves conscious and deliberate risk taking.
• The accused must forsee the degree of death under S167(b) | (d) as more than negligible | remote.
• The accused must recognize a real | substantive risk of death.

S167 Murder defined

Question 11

Tomars

Answer 11

1. Was the deceased threatened by | in fear of | deceived by the defendant?
2. If they were, did such threats | fear | deception cause the deceased to do the act that caused their death?
3. Was the act a natural consequence of the defendant’s actions? Would a reasonable and responsible person, in the defendant’s position at the time, have foreseen the circumstances?
4. Did the foreseeable actions of the victim contribute significantly to their death?

S160(2)(d) Culpable homicide