General Elements - Topic 11 - Cases

Question 1

R v Mitchell - Transferred malice and voluntary nature of actus reus

Answer 1

Facts: D tried to push into a queue and an elderly man told him off for this so D punched the man causing him to stumble into an elderly woman who was knocked over and then injured and later died.
Held: D was guilty elderly man was not convicted of anything

Question 2

Hill v Baxter - voluntary act of manslaughter

Answer 2

Facts: driver of a vehicle gets stung by a swarm of bees and so cannot act voluntarily and loses control of his car

Question 3

R v Gibbins and Proctor - Duty because of a relationship

Answer 3

Facts: father of a girl lived with a partner who then both kept this girl away from the other children and deliberately starved her to death
Held: both convicted of murder

Question 4

R v Pittwood - Contractual duty

Answer 4

Facts: railway crossing keeper forgot to close the gates causing a train to crash into a person

Question 5

R v stone and dobinson - duty taken on voluntarily

Answer 5

Facts: stones elderly sister came to live with the defendants and eventually she became bedridden she died due to malnutrition.
Held: both guilty because Stone was her brother he owed a duty of care to her
Dobinson also helped her occasionally so also owed her a duty of care