Fatal Offences - Loss of Control (partial Defence-voluntary Manslaughter)

Question 1

Act

Answer 1

Section 54-55 coroners and justice act 2009

Question 2

Definition

Answer 2

Ds act or omission in killing V resulted from a loss of control which had a qualifying trigger and a person of Ds age and sex with a normal degree of tolerance and self restraint, might have acted in the same or a similar way.

Question 3

There must be a loss of control

Answer 3

S52(2) the loss of control doesn’t need to be sudden (jury can take delay into account), (R v PCE) there must be sufficient evidence to leave the issue to the jury, (R v Jewell) D is not in control if he has lost the ability to act with considered judgement or normal powers of reasoning, (R v Ahluwalia) 2 hour delay was sufficient as D had not calmed down in that time, (Baille) will not count if D acted out of revenge

Question 4

There must be a qualifying trigger

Answer 4

Fear trigger, anger trigger, combination of triggers

Question 5

Fear trigger

Answer 5

S55(3) D fears serious violence from V
The test is subjective - as long as the Ds fear of serious violence is genuine, it doesn’t need to be a reasonable fear
Fear of violence from burglars now considered as a qualifying trigger(Martin)

Question 6

Anger trigger

Answer 6

S55(4) Things said or done
(a) Constituted circumstances of an extremely grave character and (b) caused D to have a justifiable sense of being seriously wronged
The objective test is used - jury decide if reasonable man would have felt seriously wronged
The threshold is very. High, so that the defence will rarely succeed (Doughtry)

Question 7

Combination of triggers

Answer 7

S55(5) Can be a combination of fear and angry triggers (Sands)

Question 8

Qualifying triggers cannot be used…

Answer 8

S55(6)(a-b) - fear and anger triggers cannot be used if D incites the situation and uses it as an excuse for violence (Johnson)
S55(6)(c) - sexual infidelity alone not enough for anger trigger but in (Clinton) infidelity could be taken into account if combined with other fear or anger trigger issues

Question 9

The objective test

Answer 9

S54(1)(c) the jury will decide whether a person of the Ds same sex and age, with a normal degree of tolerance and self restraint and in the Ds circumstances, might have reacted in the same or in a similar way (Caplin)

Question 10

Circumstances can include

Answer 10

(Gregson) - unemployment, epilepsy, depression
(Clinton) - discovering infidelity
(Hill) - sexual abuse suffered as a child

Question 11

Factors cannot be considered

Answer 11

(Asmelash) - intoxication
(Mohammed) - bad temper/anger issues