Chapter 16 - Attempt, conspiracy and incitement

Question 1

Explain attempt

Answer 1

1. Thabo is guilty of attempting to commit a crime if, intending to commit that crime, he unlawfully engages in conduct that is merely preparatory but has reached at least the commencement of the execution of the intended crime.
2. Thabo is guilty of attempting to commit a crime, even though the commission of the crime is impossible, if it would have been possible in the factual circumstances that he believes exist or will exist at the relevant time.

Question 2

What are attempt, conspiracy and incitement often referred to?

Answer 2

inchoate or anticipatory crimes, since they deal with forms of punishable conduct that anticipate or precede the actual completion of the crime.

Question 3

What are 4 different types of attempts?

Answer 3

1. Completed attempt
2. Interrupted attempt
3. Attempt to commit the impossible
4. Voluntary withdrawal

Question 4

Explain completed attempt

Answer 4

in this type of situation, Thabo does everything he can to commit the crime, but for some reason, the crime is not completed. For example,

1. Thabo fires at Lebo but misses,
2. Thabo fires at Lebo and strikes Lebo, but Lebo’s life is fortunately saved to prompt medical intervention.

Question 5

Explain interrupted attempt

Answer 5

In this type of situation, Thabo’s actions have reached the stage when they are no longer merely preparatory, but are, in effect, acts of execution when they are interrupted, so that the crime cannot be completed. For example,

1. Thabo, intending to commit arson, pours petrol onto a wooden floor, but is apprehended by a policeman just before he strikes a match
2. Thabo, a prisoner intending to escape from prison, breaks and bends the bars in the window of his cell, but is apprehended by a warder before he can succeed in pushing his body through the opening.

Question 6

Explain the attempt to commit the impossible

Answer 6

In this type of situation, it is impossible for Thabo to commit or complete the crime, either,

1. Because the means he uses cannot bring about the desired result, such as when Thabo, intending to murder Lebo, administers vinegar to her in the firm, but mistaken, belief that the vinegar will act as a poison and kill Lebo, or
2. Because it is impossible to commit the crime in respect of the particular object of his actions, such as when Thabo, intending to murder Lebo while she is asleep in bed, shoots her through the head, but Lebo, in fact, died of a heart attack an hour before.

Question 7

Explain voluntary withdrawal

Answer 7

In this type of situation, Thabo’s actions have already reached the stage when they qualify as acts of execution, when Thabo, of his own accord, abandons his criminal plan of action, for example,

1. After putting poison in Lebo’s porridge, but before giving it to her, Thabo has second thoughts and decides to throw away the porridge

Question 8

Explain what is a putative crime and give an example.

Answer 8

The situation in which this type of mistake is made should be contrasted with the situation in which Thabo is mistaken, not about the relevant facts, but about the relevant legal provisions. For example, Thao thinks that there is a law that makes it an offence for one person to give another a bottle of whiskey. In reality, there is no law stipulating that such conduct is a crime. Thabo gives Themba a bottle of brandy as a present in the mistaken belief that, by performing this act, he is committing a crime. A putative crime is, therefore, a crime that does not exist.