Involuntary manslaughter Flashcards
Constructive Manslaughter/Unlawful act manslaughter - Requirements
For constructive manslaughter the defendant must:
1) Do an unlawful act - must have the mens rea for that act
2) Which is dangerous
3) Which causes the victim’s death (issue of causation for murder)
Constructive manslaughter/Unlawful act manslaughter - The unlawful act
The defendant must have committed a crime requiring proof of intention or recklessness - will usually be an assault but can be criminal damage, bugarly or theft. Negligence will not suffice and neither will be an omission.
Constructive manslaughter/Unlawful act manslaughter - The unlawful act must be dangerous
Dangerous means that the act carries the risk of some harm to some person. Whether all sober and reasonable people would think the act was dangerous
Manslaughter by gross negligence - Definition
The negligence of the accused went beyond a mere matter of compensation between subjects and showed such disregard for the life and safety of others
Manslaughter by gross negligence - Requirements
1) A duty of care owed by the defendant to the victim
2) A breach of that duty of care
3) A risk that the defendant’s conduct could cause death - reasonable person would have foreseen a serious and obvious risk not merely injury or even serious injury but of death.
4) Evidence that the breach of duty did cause the death of the victim
5) A jury’s conclusion that the defendant fell so far below the standards of the reasonable person in that situation
Manslaughter by gross negligence - Omissions
General principles with regard to omissions apply to manslaughter by gross negligence - one would be liable for failing to act where there was a duty to do so. Must be a duty of care.
Unlawful act manslaughter - the unlawful act
The unlawful act must be one that ‘all sober and reasonable people would inevitably recognise must subject the other person to at least the risk of some harm albeit not serious harm’.
