Culpable Homicide

Question 1

Define Homicide, Section 158 of the Crimes Act 1961

Answer 1

Homicide is the killing of a human being
By another
Directly or indirectly
By any means whatsoever

Question 2

Can an organization be charged with murder or manslaughter?

Explain your answer and refer to the relevant case law Murray Wright 💼?

Answer 2

Yes to manslaughter - An organisation can be convicted as a party to the offence of manslaughter.

No to murder - An organisation cannot be convicted as either a principal offender or a party to murder. This is because the offence carries a mandatory life sentence.

Case law Murry 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

Question 3

Section 159(1) & (2) of the Crimes Act 1961 defines when a child becomes a human being and is therefore able to be murdered under section 158.

Detail the provisions of section 159(1) & (2).

Answer 3

Section 159(1)
A child becomes a human being within the meaning of this Act when it has completely proceeded in 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.

Section 159(2)
the killing of such child is homicide if it dies in consequence of injuries received before, during, or after birth.

Question 4

Outline culpable homicide section160(1) & (2) of the Crimes Act 1961

Answer 4

(1) Homicide may be either culpable or not culpable.

(2) Homicide is culpable when it consists in the killing of any person—

(a) By an 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.

Question 5

What are the three specific causations of homicide in section 160(2)(d)?

Answer 5

Threats
fear of violence
or deception

Question 6

What does case law Myatt state about an unlawful act in respect of section 160(2)(a) of the Crimes Act 1961?

Answer 6

Before a breach of any Act, regulation or bylaw would be an unlawful act under s 160 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.

Question 7

Under section 160(a) the act must be unlawful.

Describe what an unlawful act is in relation to this section and include the relevant Myatt case law.

Answer 7

An unlawful act means a breach of any act,
regulation,
rule, or
bylaw.

Question 8

In common law, allegations of culpable homicide have been supported where the offenders have caused death by particular circumstances.

Name any four of these circumstances.

Answer 8

Committing arson
• Giving a child an excessive amount of alcohol to drink
• Placing hot cinders and straw on a drunk person to frighten them
• Supplying heroin to the deceased
• Throwing a large piece of concrete from a motorway over bridge into the path of an approaching car
• Conducting an illegal abortion.

Question 9

Explain what is meant by section 160(2)(b) of the Crimes Act 1961, omission to perform a legal duty.

Answer 9

This covers cases where nothing is done when there is a legal duty to act, and certain cases of positive conduct accompanied by a failure to discharge a legal duty, in particular a duty of care.

Question 10

Define: Legal Duty

Answer 10

The expression legal duty refers to those duties imposed by statute or common law including uncodified common law duties:

Question 11

List four statutory legal duties in respect of the Crimes Act 1961?

Answer 11

o Provide necessaries and protect from injury to your charges when you are a parent or guardian (s152)

o Provide necessaries as an employer (s153)

o Use reasonable knowledge and skill when performing dangerous acts, such as surgery (s155)

o Take precautions when in charge of dangerous things, such as machinery (s156)

o Avoid omissions that will endanger life (s157).

Question 12

What was held in the case law Tomars? 💼

Answer 12

o Was the deceased threatened by, in fear of or deceived by the accused?

o If they were, did such threats, fear or deception cause the deceased to do the act that caused their death?

o Was the act a natural consequence of the actions of the accused, in the sense that reasonable and responsible people in the accused’s position at the time could reasonably have foreseen the consequences?

o Did these foreseeable actions of the victim contribute in a [significant] way to his death?

Question 13

In relation to Section 160(2)(d) of the Crimes Act 1961,

give two practical examples of culpable homicide which has been caused by the victim’s actions, prompted by threats on fear of violence

Answer 13

• A person who Jumps or falls out of a window because they think they are going to be assaulted
• A person who Jumps into a river to escape an attack and drowns
• A person who has been assaulted and believes their life is in danger, jumps from a train and is killed.

Question 14

Outline section 163 of the Crimes Act 1961

Answer 14

• 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.

Question 15

In general, no one is criminally responsible for the killing of another by any influence of the mind.

What are the exceptions to this rule?

Answer 15

Wilfully frightening a child under 16 years of age

Wilfully frightening a sick person (Mentally or physically)

Question 16

Define wilfully frightening

Answer 16

Wilfully frightening is regarded as intending to frighten, or at least be reckless as to this.

Question 17

Can you consent to death?

Answer 17

No one has the right to consent to being killed.

This means that if someone is killed, the fact that they gave their consent will not affect the criminal responsibility of anyone else involved in the killing

Question 18

If you fatally injured someone during a game of football, would you be charged with any offence?

If so, what might the charges be?

Answer 18

Normally, you would not be charged with the killing of another player if they died from injuries, you caused while playing football.

However, you would be guilty of manslaughter if your actions were considered likely to cause serious injury.

Question 19

To establish proof of death, in relation to homicide, you must prove three key elements, they are:

Answer 19

• Death occurred

• Deceased is identified as the person who has been killed

• The killing is culpable.

Question 20

How can death be proven

Answer 20

• Death can be proved by direct and/or circumstantial evidence.

Question 21

Explain case law Horry 💼

Answer 21

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.

Question 22

What is meant by the term “justified?” Provide two examples:

Answer 22

• Some acts are justified even when they result in death. Section 2 provides that when an act is justified the perpetrator is exempt from both criminal and civil liability.

• Examples of such acts include:
o Homicide committed in self-defence (s48)

o Homicide committed to prevent suicide or commission of an offence which would be likely to cause immediate and serious injury to the person or property of anyone (s41).

Question 23

What is the difference between Murder and Manslaughter?

Answer 23

The critical distinction between murder and manslaughter is whether the offender intended to kill the deceased or to harm them in a way they knew might result in death.