Culpable Homicide Flashcards
Crimes Act 1961,
Section 158 - Homicide defined
Section 158
Homicide is the killing of a human being by another, directly or indirectly, by any means whatsoever.
Case Law - Murray Wright Ltd
Because the killing must be done by a human being, an organisation (such as a hospital or food company) cannot be convicted as a principal offender.
Crimes Act 1961,
Section 159
Killing of a child
Section 159 (1) A child becomes a human being within the meaning of this Act when it has completely proceeded into a living state from the body of its mother, whether it has breathed or not, whether it has an independent circulation or not, and whether the navel string is severed or not.
(2) The killing of such child is homicide if it dies in consequences of injuries received before, during or after birth.
Crimes Act 1961
Section 160
(Definitions of Homicide)
Section 160
(1) Homicide may be either culpable or not culpable.
(2) Homicide is culpable when it consists in the killing of any person -
(a) By any unlawful act; or
(b) By an omission without lawful excuse to perform or observe any legal duty; or
(c) By both combined; or
(d) By causing that person by threats or fear of violence, or by deception, to do an act which causes his death; or
(e) By wilfully frightening a child under the age of 16 years or a sick person.
(3) Except as provided in section 178 of this act, culpable homicide is either murder or manslaughter.
(4) Homicide that is not culpable is not an offence.
R v Myatt
[Before a breach of any Act, regulation or bylaw 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 or to some class of persons of whom he was one.
Section 160(2)(b) Culpable homicide includes any death caused by an omission, without lawful excuse, to perform or observe any legal duty
Legal duty refers to duties imposed by statute or common law:
s151 - provide necessaries and protect from injury
s152 - provide necessaries and protect from injury to your charges when you are a parent or guardian
s153 - provide necessaries as an employer
s155 - use reasonable knowledge and skill when performing dangerous acts, such as surgery
s156 - take precautions when in charge of dangerous things, such as machinery
s157 - avoid omissions that will endanger life
R v Tomars
s160(2)(d) - by threats or fear of violence or by deception
R v Tomars
formulates the issues in the following way:
1. Was the deceased threatened by, in fear of or deceived by the defendant?
2. If they were, did such threats, fear or deception cause the deceased to do the act that caused their death?
3. Was the act a natural consequence of the actions of the defendant, in the sense that reasonable and responsible people in the defendant’s position at the time could reasonably have foreseen the consequences?
4. Did these foreseeable actions of the victim contribute in a [significant] way to his death?
Crimes Act 1961
Section 163 - Killing by influence on the mind
Section 163
No one is criminally responsible for the killing of another by any influence on the mind alone, except by wilfully frightening a child under the age of 16 years or a sick person, nor for the killing of another by any disorder or disease arising from such influence, except by wilfully frightening any such child as aforesaid or a sick person.
Crimes Act 1961
Section 63
No one has the right to consent to being killed.
R v Horry
R v Horry
Death should be provable by such circumstances as render it morally certain and leave no ground for reasonable doubt - that the circumstantial evidence should be so cogent and compelling as to convince a jury that upon no rational hypothesis other than murder can the facts be accounted for.
Evidence Act 2006
Section 18
General admissibility of hearsay evidence
(1) A hearsay statement is admissible in any proceeding 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 caused if the maker of the statement were required to be a witness.
Reasonable assurance
- section 18 Evidence Act 2006
The Court must be satisfied that both the content and the person who made it are reliable. You must therefore record any factors that demonstrate this;
- 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
