Involuntary Manslaughter

Question 1

What is involuntary manslaughter and how do you commit it W10P1 and P28

Answer 1

This is an unintentional killing but is not an accident.

The two ways of committing it are unlawful act manslaughter and gross negligence manslaughter.

Question 2

What is unlawful act manslaughter P28

Answer 2

Where the defendant causes a death through doing an unlawful act that is objectively dangerous with the MR for the unlawful act.

Question 3

What are the steps to unlawful act manslaughter W10P1

Answer 3

1) There must be an unlawful act.
2) The unlawful act must be dangerous and the reasonable sober person would have recognised it to be so.
3) The defendant must have had the MR for the unlawful act but does not need to have foreseen death.
4) The unlawful act must be the cause of the death.

Question 4

Unlawful act P29 and W10P1

Answer 4

This is an act against criminal law, a civil wrong is not enough. This was shown in R V Franklin (1883).
Cases that are also important to this topic are R V Lamb and R V Lowe

Question 5

R V Lamb (1967) P29

Answer 5

Lamb and his friend were fooling around with a revolver. They both knew it had bullets in but both thought it would not fire unless the bullet was opposite the barrel. They did not realise that the chamber would turn so that the next bullet along would fire. Lamb pointed the gun at his friend and fired killing his friend. This was not an unlawful act as the pointing of the gun at his friend was not an assault as his friend did not fear any violence from Lamb.

Question 6

R V Lowe (1973) P29

Answer 6

The defendant was convicted of wilfully neglecting his baby son and of his manslaughter. The judge directed the jury that if they found him guilty of wilful neglect they would also find him guilty of manslaughter.
The COA quashed the conviction as wilful neglect involved a failure to act and this could not support a conviction for unlawful act manslaughter.

Question 7

2) The act was dangerous W10P1

Answer 7

In R V Church it was said ‘an unlawful act causing the death of another cannot, simply because it is unlawful, mean a manslaughter verdict is inevitable. The unlawful act must be such as all sober and reasonable people would inevitably recognise must subject the other person to the risk of some harm, albeit not serious harm.’

Question 8

R V Watson (1989) P31 and W10P1

Answer 8

The appellant smashed a window and broke into the house of the V, an 87 year old man. The V went to investigate and the D shouted abuse at him and ran off. The police arrived and V suffered a heart attack and died 90 minutes after the initial break in.
The COA quashed the conviction of manslaughter as it could not be established that the break in was the cause of the heart attack. Although, they stated that a burglary could be dangerous as soon as the old man’s condition became apparent to the reasonable man.

Question 9

R V Dawson (1985) W10P1 and P30

Answer 9

Three defendants attempted to rob a petrol station. They wore masks and were armed with a pickaxe handle and replica guns. The petrol attendant was aged 60 and suffered from heart disease. After the attendant sounded the alarm the defendants fled empty handed. The attendant then suffered a fatal heart attack.
This was not manslaughter as a reasonable person would not have known about V’s heart disease.

Question 10

The MR for the unlawful act W10P1

Answer 10

The defendant must intend the unlawful act and the defendant does not need to have foreseen death.

Question 11

DPP V Newbury and Jones (1976) P32 and W10P1

Answer 11

The defendant were two teenaged boys who pushed a paving slab from a bridge onto a railway line as a train was approaching. The paving slab went through a glass window on the cab of the train and struck the guard killing him.
The HOLs confirmed it was not necessary to prove that the defendant foresaw any harm from his act. Can be convicted if the unlawful act was dangerous and the defendant had the necessary MR for this act.

Question 12

What is the final stage W10P1

Answer 12

The unlawful act must cause death.
This is basic causation
Factual ‘But For’ the unlawful act would the victim have died?
2.Legal Was the unlawful act a more than minimal cause?
3.Breaks Was the unlawful act the operating and substantial cause of death (or was there a break in the chain?)

Question 13

How does cause of death relate to drugs W10P1

Answer 13

Filler

Question 14

R V Cato (1976) P31 W10P1

Answer 14

Cato bought heroin took it to the home which he shared with V.
They both used the heroin, Cato injected V with V’s permission.
The following day V was found dead.
Cato was guilty of UAMS as he had injected V.

Question 15

R V Kennedy (2007) P32 W10P1

Answer 15

Kennedy and V lived at a hostel
Kennedy prepared a syringe with heroin and handed it to V
V injected himself and died.
Kennedy was not guilty of UAMS, V had made an informed choice of his own free will and this broke the chain of causation.

Question 16

Gross negligence manslaughter

Answer 16

Filler

Question 17

What are the steps to gross negligence manslaughter W10P1

Answer 17

Step 1: The defendant must have owed a duty of care to the victim
Step 2: The defendant must have breached that duty of care
Step 3: The breach must be so bad that it is considered GROSS and therefore criminal rather than civil
Step 4: The breach must be the cause of the death

Question 18

When can there be a duty of care W10P1 and P33

Answer 18

This duty of care can be a criminal one (eg where an omission is the AR)
1. Statutory
2. Contractual (R v Pitwood)
3. Public (R v Dytham)
4. Voluntary (R v Stone & Dobinson)
5. Failure to minimise harm (Miller)
Or established using the civil law rules laid out in Robinson v CCWY
1. Established
2. By analogy to established
3. Or using the rules in Caparo v Dickman (1990).
The three stages are reasonable foreseeability of harm, proximity of relationship in space and time and it has to be fair, just and reasonable to impose a duty of care.

Question 19

When is there a breach of duty W10P1

Answer 19

Application of the reasonable man test from civil law:
Blythe v Birmingham Waterworks - Breach is failing to do something the reasonable man would do, or doing something that he wouldn’t.

Question 20

A gross breach W10P1 and P32

Answer 20

In R V Adomako (1994), D was the anaesthetist for a patient who was having an operation. During the operation one of the oxygen tubes became disconnected and D failed to recognise this. The patient died six months later as a result. Doctors giving evidence in the trial said that a competent anaesthetist would have noticed within 15 seconds.
The conviction of gross manslaughter was upheld by the House of Lords.
The jury must decide “having regard to the risk of death involved, was the conduct of the defendant so bad as to amount to a criminal act or omission.”

Question 21

The breach must have been the cause of death W10P1 and P34

Answer 21

Have to gain apply the test for causation.
D was a lorry driver, he carried 60 illegal immigrants into England. The 60 people were in a concealed compartment in the lorry. The lorry was a refrigerated lorry which meant that there was no ventilation.
There was one air vent. The 60 people were told that if the vent was shut, they must be silent to avoid detection. The appellant shut the vent 10 minutes before boarding a ferry. He did not re-open it. The lorry was on the ferry for 10 hours. 58 of immigrants suffocated and died.
D knew that the safety of the immigrants depended on his own actions in relation to the vent and he clearly assumed the duty of care. D’s conviction of manslaughter was upheld by the court of appeal.