Fatal offences - Involuntary Manslaughter (Unlawful Act) Flashcards
What are the 4 elements required for unlawful act manslaughter?
1) The D does an unlawful act which is a crime.
2) The act is dangerous on an objective test.
3) The act MUST cause the death of the victim.
4) The D MUST have the mens rea for the unlawful act NOT the killing.
What is the importance of Lamb (1967) when discussing an unlawful act?
In this case the D was a young boy who had pointed a gun at his friends head while messing around. The boys were aware there were 2 bullets in the gun but didn’t realise it had moved meaning it would be fired. The D shot and killed his friend but wasn’t guilty under UAM as he didn’t commit an unlawful act (wasn’t an assault as there was no fear).
Can an omission create liability for UAM?
No, there must be an act.
What is the objective test for a dangerous act and name the relevant case.
R v Church (1965) held it must be “all sober and reasonable people would inevitably recognise and must subject the other person to at least some harm, albeit not serious harm”.
For an act to be decided to be dangerous on the objective test, must the risk of harm be serious?
No, there only needs to be a risk of some harm.
Summarise how the element of a dangerous act would be satisfied (element 2).
If a sober and reasonable person realises the unlawful act might cause some injury to the victim. It doesn’t matter if the D didn’t realise there was any risk of harm to another person.
Does the act need to be aimed at the victim and name a case.
No there has to simply be a general risk of harm, even if intended to another. In the case of R v Larkin (1943) the D threatened a man with an open blade razor and a the V tried to intervene and in the process fell and sliced her throat on the razor, being killed in the process. The D was guilty of manslaughter as there was a crime and the act was dangerous as it was likely to injure someone.
NOT DONE
not done
