Culpable Homicide Flashcards
What are the critical factors to consider for a charge of murder?
- Whether the offender intended to kill the person or
- Whether the offender intended to cause bodily injury that the offender knew was likely to cause death
HOMICIDE LEGISLATION
Section 158 - Crimes Act 1961
Homicide is the killing of a human being by another, directly or indirectly, by any means whatsoever
Murder/manslaughter regarding organisations
Murder: an organisation cannot be convicted as either a principal offender or a party to the offence.
Manslaughter: an organisation can be convicted as a party to the offence
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.
KILLING OF A CHILD LEGISLATION
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 injuries received before, during, or after birth.
OUTLINE CULPABLE HOMICIDE SECTION 160 (1) AND (2)
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 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.
Define unlawful act
Section 2 - Crimes Act 1961
Means a breach of any Act, regulation, rule, or bylaw.
CASE LAW: R V MYATT
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.
WHAT ACTIONS UNDER COMMON LAW ARE SUPPORTED FOR CULPABLE HOMICIDE?
- 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 a person who subsequently dies from an overdose
- throwing a large piece of concrete from a motorway overbridge into the path of an approaching car
- conducting an illegal abortion where the mother dies.
LIST FOUR STATUTORY LEGAL DUTIES IN RESPECT OF THE CRIMES ACT 1961
• provide the necessaries and protect from injury (s151)
• provide necessaries and protect from injury to your charges when you are
a parent or guardian (s152)
• provide necessaries as an employer (s153)
• avoid omissions that will endanger life (s157).
CASE LAW: R V TOMARS
R v Tomars formulates the issues in the following way:
- Was the deceased threatened by, in fear of or deceived by the defendant?
- If they were, did such threats, fear or deception cause the deceased to do the act that caused their death?
- 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? - Did these foreseeable actions of the victim contribute in a [significant] way to his death?
WHAT ARE THE EXAMPLES OF CULPABLE HOMICIDE CAUSED BY ACTIONS PROMOTED BY THREATS, FEAR OF VIOLENCE OR DECEPTION?
- jumps or falls out of a 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.
KILLING BY INFLUENCE ON THE MIND LEGISLATION
Section 163 - Crimes Act 1961
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.
TO ESTABLISH PROOF OF DEATH YOU MUST PROVE THREE KEY ELEMENTS. WHAT ARE THEY?
- death occurred
- deceased is identified as the person who has been killed
- the killing is culpable
Death can be proved by direct and/or circumstantial evidence.
CASE LAW: 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.
