HOMICIDE RELATED OFFENCES Flashcards
178(1) Infanticide
What are the elements:
Culpable homicide
Mother killing her own child under 10 years
Mothers mind DISTURBED as a consequence of CHILDBIRTH or LACTATION for that child or any other of her children.
178(1) Infanticide
How would the prosecution go about laying charges for a mother killing a child?
(What’s the most appropriate charge?)
It is up the the JURY TO DECIDE on the mother’s STATE OF MIND.
Therefore, the prosecution should file charging documents for both INFANTICIDE and MURDER OF AN INFANT.
Which sections concern the duty to provide those things and conditions necessary to SUSTAIN LIFE and PROTECT FROM INJURY:
151 Duty to provide necessaries and to protect from injury
152 Duty of parent or guardian to provide necessaries and to protect from injury
153 Duty of employers to provide necessaries
Define:
Vulnerable Adult
A person UNABLE, by reason of detention, age, sickness, mental Impairment, or any other cause, to WITHDRAW HIMSELF from the care or charge of another person.
What does NOT determine a persons VULNERABILITY as a Vulnerable Adult?
Whether an adult is vulnerable is a matter for OBJECTIVE determination and should NOT depend on that persons SUBJECTIVE PERCEPTION.
Give some examples of NECESSARIES (151(1)):
How do NECESSARIES differ from NECESSARIES OF LIFE?
NECESSARIES:
Food
Clothing
Housing
Warmth
Medical care
These differ from NECESSARIES OF LIFE in that they are broader. Necessaries of life refer to keeping a person alive.
151(1)
DUTY TO PROTECT FROM INJURY is a term referring to I jury cased by what?
(Eg. Is it a narrow definition say referring only to injury caused by a person?)
It encompasses all causes of injury.
Can the status vary of an adult regarded as a VULNERABLE ADULT?
Yes, Vulnerability may be short lived or temporary.
154 Abandoning a child under age….
(What age?)
It is an offence to abandon or expose a child under age 6.
What 2 sections deal with the duties of a person doing dangerous acts and being in charge of dangerous things:
155 Duty of persons doing dangerous acts
156 Duty of persons in charge of dangerous things
155
What duty is expected of a person who undertakes to administer surgical or medical treatment, the doing of which may be dangerous to life?
They are under a legal duty to have and to use REASONABLE KNOWLEDGE, SKILL, and CARE I doing such act.
156 Duty of person in charge of dangerous things.
What is meant to be included within the term, “Anything whatever”?
Anything conceivable to cause injury
163 Killing by influence in the mind
If someone was driven to commit suicide but extreme circumstances such a domestic violence or extreme anxiety, would the person causing this be culpable?
No.
The exception is when the victim is under 16 or is a sick person.
And the cause must be by FRIGHTENING them.
166 Causing injury the treatment of which causes death.
If someone is injured, and the treatment if those injuries results in their death, who is culpable? Is it the person who caused the initial injury, or is it the person who administered the treatment which resulted in death?
The person who caused the injury is the one culpable. Provided the treatment was applied in good faith.
If the treatment (as in R v Jordan) was so unusual that it broke the causal chain, then the person causing the original injury would not be culpable. This is called Novus acus Interveins.
In s165 Causing death that might have been prevented,
What case law refuted the defense that ‘the victim refused to stop this end coming about and therefore broke the causal connection between the act and death”?
Blane
“Those who use violence must take their victims as they find them.”
(Liability depends on the mens rea not on the victim’s subsequent actions.
What does the Latin term Novus acus Interveins mean?
An intervening act that breaks the chain of causation.
S179 Aiding and Abetting Suicide
What is an essential element?
The person has to ‘do something’
Eg. Incite, counsel, or procure the victim. Do do something like giving them the drug that they can’t administer to themself
179 Aiding and abetting suicide?
Can (person A) be liable if they assist (person b) to commit suicide if (person B) had no intention of doing the act themself?
Yes
What is the penalty for 179 Aiding and Abetting Suicide?
14 years
180(1) Suicide Pact
If (A) causes the death of (B) but (A) survives the suicide pact, what is (A) guilty of?
Manslaughter
But (A) must have done something to contribute to (B’s) death.
180(2) Suicide pact
Both (A) and (B) carry out their pact by administering to themselves what the believe is a lethal poison. (B) dies and (A) survives. What is the penalty for (A)?
Can they be convicted of 179 Aiding and abetting suicide?
5 years.
No. (A) can not be convicted of any other offence.
181 Concealment of a child’s body.
What must the intent be to satisfy the intent element?
To conceal the fact of birth
181 concealment of the body of a child.
What age must the child be under?
There is no age stipulated. It is presumed that the child is of comparatively recent birth.
If a surgeon makes a critical error while trying to save the life of a stabbing patient. Who is responsible for the death of that patient? (the offender or the surgeon).
If it was a critical error that should not have occurred if the surgeon was correctly discharging his duty, then the surgeon is responsible. 155 duty of a person doing dangerous acts.
