Culpable Homicide Flashcards
Culpable Homicide
Homicide is the killing of one human being by another. Myst prove the killing was (blameworthy or culpable).
Murder or Manslaughter
The critical factor to consider for a Murder Charge are whether the offender intended to:
- Kill the person; or
- Cause bodily injury that the offender knew was likely to cause death.
If neither of these intentions can be proven, the most likely charge is manslaughter. Intentional and Deliberate.
Manslaughter e.g. failure to perform legal duty, acted unlawfully and not envisaged the possibility of death occurring.
Homicide Defined
Section 158 Crimes Ac t 1961
Homicide is the killing of a human being by another, directly or indirectly, by any means whatsoever.
Of note:
Homicide must be culpable to an offence.
Culpability of Organisations
In cases of:
- Manslaughter: an organisation can be convicted as a party to the offence (s66(1))
- Murder: an organisation cannot be convicted as either a principal offender or a party to the offence. This is because the offence carries a mandatory life sentence.
Case Law:
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.
Murray White Ltd
Killing of a Child
Section 159 Crimes Act 1961
(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.
(2) The killing of such child is homicide if it dies in consequence of injures received before, during, or after birth.
Culpable Homicide
Culpable Homicide means the killing is blameworthy. It includes murder, manslaughter or infanticide.
Section 160 Crimes Act 1961
(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 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 the Act, culpable homicide is either murder or manslaughter.
(4) Homicide that is not culpable is not an offence.
Unlawful Act
Section 160(2)(a) CA61
Means a breach of any act, regulation, rule, or bylaw.
The common law requires that the act must be one that is likely to do harm or is inherently “dangerous”, as well as being harmful. The harm must be more than trivial harm.
Case Law:
R v Myatt
Before a breach of any Act, regulation, rule or bylaw would be an unlawful act under s160 for the purpose of culpable homicide, it must be an act likely to do harm to the deceased.
Omission to Perform Legal Duty
Section 160(2)(b) CA61
Culpable homicide includes any death caused by an omission, without lawful excuse, to perform or observe any legal duty as defined by s160(2)(b).
Legal duty refers to duties imposed by statute or common law including unmodified common law duties.
Duties imposed by statute are mainly common law duties that have been embodied in statute. Crimes Act 1961 defines duties to:
- Provide the necessaries and protect from injury (s151) (Under legal duty to take reasonable steps for vulnerable adult or people unable to provide for themselves)
- Provide necessaries and protect from injury to your charges when you a parent or guardian (s152) (Under legal duty to take reasonable steps who has actual care of a child <18yrs)
- Provide necessaries as an employer (s153) (Under legal duty for servants or apprentice <16yrs)
- Use reasonable knowledge and skill when performing dangerous acts, such as surgery (s155)
- Take precautions when in charge of dangerous things, such as machinery (s156)
- Avoid omission that will endanger life (s157).
Omission duties can amount to homicide where death would not have occurred as and when it did had the defendant performed the duty in question, and it must have been “a substantial and operative cause of death”.
Unlawful Acts and Omission of Duty
Section 160(2)(c) CA61
Example
Driving a car so recklessly that you kill a pedestrian is both unlawful act and omission of duty - s156 failure to take precaution when in charge of dangerous thing.
Threats, Fear of Violence and Deception
Section 160(2)(d) CA61
A person is guilty of culpable murder if they cause the victim by threats, fear of violence or deception to do an act that results in the victim’s death.
You must prove that the fear of violence was well founded, but you do not need to show that the deceased’s action was the only means of escape.
Case Law:
R v Tomars
Formulates the issues in the following way:
1. Was the deceased threatened by, or 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 foreseen the consequence?
4. Did these foreseeable actions of the victim contribute in a significant way to his death?
Examples of culpable homicide:
- Jumps or falls out of the window and dies because they think they are going to be assaulted
- Jumps into a river to escape an attack and drowns
- Who has been assaulted and believes their life is in danger, jumps from a train and is killed.
Frightening a Child or Sick Person
Section 160(2)(e) CA61
The fright need not be a result of fear of violence, but may be caused by any act that frightens the child or sick person, so long as it is done wilfully.
- Intend to frighten; or
- Reckless as to the risk of that
The defendant should at least have been aware of a real risk that the victim is under 16 or sick.
Killing by Influence on the Mind
Section 163 CA61
s163 CA61
No one is criminally responsible for the killing of another by any influence on the mind alone, except by wilfully frightening a child under 16 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 or sick person.
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Killing by influence on the mind alone is not a crime except as provided in section 163. This would apply to someone who mentally tortures another person who is already mentally or physically sick, so that the victim has a mental breakdown and commits suicide.
E.g.
Man took a test for ongoing stomach problem at the hospital. Hospital employee sends him a letter saying he had terminal cancer as a joke. Man commits suicide as a result.
Consent to Death
Section 63 CA61
No one has the right to consent to being killed.
Death from Lawful Games or Contests
Treated as non-culpable homicide. E.g. boxing, soccer, hockey, wrestling.
Proof of Death
To establish the death, you must prove:
- Death occurred
- Deceased is identified as the person who has been killed
- The death is culpable.
Death can be proved by direct and/or indirect circumstantial evidence.
