cases

Question 1

Hill v Baxter (1958)

Answer 1

• in voluntary omission case
• If D drives dangerously, but it is because their car is attacked by bees, or someone has thrown a brick at the car, or they have a heart attack at the wheel, their actions are involuntary and they would not be charged

Question 2

Larsonneur (1933)

Answer 2

• state of affairs case,
• Larsonneur, a french national, landed in england with a french passport endorsed in such a way, which prevented her from working in the uk,
• she had to leave england so went to EIRE, but from there she was deported back to England by the Irish police,
• she was found guilty of being in the UK, contrary to the Aliens Act 1920,

Question 3

Winzar (1983)

Answer 3

• D was drunk and had fallen over - he was taken to hospital
  nurses put him on a trolley and pushed him outside the hospital to get some fresh air and sober up
• police came along and arrested D for being drunk in a public place - it did not matter that it was not his choice to be there

Question 4

Pittwood (1902)

Answer 4

• contractual duty to act
• railway gatekeeper employed to open and close gate
• failed to close gate - someone hit by a train and killed
• gatekeeper guilty of manslaughter

Question 5

Gibbons and Proctor (1918)

Answer 5

• duty to act because of a relationship
• father and mistress failed to feed his daughter
• daughter died of starvation
• Gibbons and Proctor guilty of murder - personal duty to feed her

Question 6

Stone and Dobinson (1977)

Answer 6

• duty taken voluntarily
• Stone and Dobinson invite Stone’s old anorexic sister to live with them
• she couldn’t take care of herself and fell ill
• they didn’t help or call a doctor
• convicted with manslaughter

Question 7

Dytham (1979)

Answer 7

• duty through official position
• police officer witnessed violent attack and did nothing
• guilty with failing to perform duty without a reasonable excuse

Question 8

Miller (1988)

Answer 8

• duty because you created a dangerous situation
• tramp in an empty house and accidentally set fire to mattress with cigarette
• did nothing and went to sleep in next room
• house destroyed by fire - guilty of arson

Question 9

DPP v Santana Bermudez (2003)

Answer 9

• actus reus - omissions - creating a dangerous situation
• d asked if he had any sharp objects before being searched by police women
• he said no, she was injured by a hypodermic needle while searching him

Question 10

White

Answer 10

• factual causation
• d put poison in mothers drink, she died of heart attack before she drank it
• but for test failed

Question 11

Pagett

Answer 11

• factual causation
• d used his girlfriend as a human shield while shooting at armed police
• police returned fire and killed girlfriend
• Pagett convicted of manslaughter - she would not have died ‘but for’ him using her as a human shield

Question 12

Smith

Answer 12

• legal cause
• two soldiers had a fight and one stabbed the other in the lung
• victim carried to medical centre but dropped on the way, at medical centre, staff gave him artificial respiration and pressed on his chest
• he died, poor treatment affected his chance of recovery by 75%, original attacker still guilty of murder

Question 13

Cheshire

Answer 13

• legal cause
• rare medical complications can break chain of causation, only where original injury is no longer having any effect
• victim shot in thigh and stomach
• victim died of rare complications from a tracheotomy not spotted by doctors
• gun shot wounds were reason for tracheotomy
• d still liable

Question 14

Jordan

Answer 14

• legal cause
• d stabbed v, who was taken to hospital
• weeks later, wound almost healed when doctors gave him the wrong injection and he died
• as medical treatment was ‘palpably wrong’ there was no legal causation and d was acquitted
• original injury not the operating and substantial cause of the death but would still be guilty of the initial wounding

Question 15

Blaue

Answer 15

• thin skull rule
• Jehova’s witness stabbed by D
• she refuses blood transfusion needed to save her life
• d convicted for murder

Question 16

Latimer (1886)

Answer 16

• transferred malice
• d aimed a belt at a man in the pub after the man verbally attacked him
• belt bounced off man and struck a woman in the face
• Latimer guilty of assault against a woman even though he hadn’t meant to hit her

Question 17

Mitchell (1983)

Answer 17

• transferred malice
• man involved in an argument in a post office queue with an elderly man
• man fell accidentally onto an elderly woman who later died in hospital
• d unsuccessfully appealed on grounds his act had not been directed at victim
• despite no direct contact the court stated the mens rea was transferred to the victim

Question 18

Pembliton (1874)

Answer 18

• malice cannot be transferred for a different crime
• d threw a large stone at people
• missed and broke a window
• found guilty of criminal damage but on appeal conviction was quashed
• no mens rea for criminal damage, couldn’t be transferred to make him liable

Question 19

Fagan (1968)

Answer 19

• coincidence of actus reus and mens rea (contemporaneity)
• Fagan told by police to pull up by kerb
• Fagan without realising, drove onto policemans foot
• policeman pointed out what happened, and asked Fagan several times to move but he refused
• eventually, he moves
• when Fagan realised car was on foot and did not move he required a mens rea
• actus reus was on going so the two were present together and Fagan was guilty

Question 20

Church (1966)

Answer 20

• coincidence of actus reus and mens rea (contemporaneity)
• d took woman to his van for sex, he was unable to perform satisfactory, she got angry and slapped him
• d fought woman and knocked her unconscious believing he killed her
• he panicked and rolled her body in a carpet he had in the van and threw her into a river where she drowned
• d had mens rea for killing before she died, he believed she was dead

Question 21

Thabo-Meli (1954)

Answer 21

• coincidence of actus reus and mens rea (contemporaneity)
• d and accomplices take v to a hut and beat him with intention to kill him
• rolled his body of a cliff to make his death look accidental
• v was not dead and died of exposure hours later

Question 22

Logdon (1976)

Answer 22

• assault
• d, as a joke pointed a gun at v
• v was terrified until she found out it was a replica
• court held that despite gun being a replica and not dangerous, d caused fear of violence and would be guilty as assault

Question 23

Constanza (1997)

Answer 23

• assault
• d mounted a campaign of hate against an ex-colleague over a period of 20 months
• sent over 800 threatening letters, would follow her home, wrote offensive words on her front door, drove past her house, stole items from her washing line
• letters sufficient to satisfy immediacy

Question 24

Smith V Chief Constable of Woking police (1983)

Answer 24

• assault, where violence is possible in the immediate future, the actus reus of assault can exist
• man broke into a private garden at night and looked through the closed bedroom window of a woman
• she was terrified and thought he was going to enter the room
• enough for an assault

Question 25

Ireland (1998)

Answer 25

• words as an assault
• d made silent phone calls to 3 women, threat needs to be of immediate force and it was held victim may fear purpose of the call is to find out if they were home and caller will come round immediately after the call
• if d says something that indicates there will be NO violence, these words can prevent an act being an assault

Question 26

Tuberville V Savage (1669)

Answer 26

• assault
• man put his hand on his sword and said ‘if it were not a time of peace i would not take such language from you’
• although the mans act could have made the v fear immediate violence, the words showed no violence was going to be used, so not an assault

Question 27

Thomas (1985)

Answer 27

• battery
• touching someone’s clothing

Question 28

Collins v Wilcock

Answer 28

• battery
• police women grabbing an arm was battery so response was self defense

Question 29

DPP v K (1990)

Answer 29

• battery
• the d, a young boy, put acid in the hand dryers at school and the next person was sprayed in the face with it
• guilty of a battery even though he did not actually touch the victim

Question 30

Haystead (2000)

Answer 30

• battery
• d caused a child to fall on the floor by punching the woman holding the child
• he was guilty of a battery against both the person he touched and the child

Question 31

R V Miller (1954)

Answer 31

• ABH
• “any hurt or injury calculated to interfere with the health and comfort of the victim”

Question 32

T V DPP (2003)

Answer 32

• ABH
• momentarily losing consciousness is actual bodily harm

Question 33

DPP V Smith

Answer 33

• ABH
• unlawfully cutting someone’s hair is ABH

Question 34

Chan-Fook (1994)

Answer 34

• ABH
• Chan-Fook aggressively interrogated the victim then left him locked in a room and threatened him with violence in his return
• Chan-Fook was not guilty of causing psychological harm to the victim as there was no recognised psychological illness caused, just stress and panic
• he was only guilty of assault
• ‘any injury not so trivial to be wholly insignificant’

Question 35

Savage (1991)

Answer 35

• savage threw a pint of beer over another woman
• the glass slipped from her hand and smashed cutting the victims hand
• savage was liable for her injuries, even though she had not intended any injury or realised there was even a risk of ABH
• she had the mens rea for assault and battery by intending to throw the beer and that was enough for the offence of ABH