Mens Rea Cases Flashcards
R v Clarke
a woman was absent mindedly placing items of her shopping into her bag instead of her basket and walked out the shop. Medical evidence showed she was diabetic and depressed. She lacked the men’s rea and was acquitted
Mohan
police officer was in the road with a stop signal. Mohan aimed to knock him over. He had 100% aim and desire to run him over so was liable
Woolin
got mad at his baby for crying so threw him across the room aiming for the pram, he missed the baby hit the wall and died. The intention for one thing to happen led to another consequence so the farther was liable
Cunningham
d stole gas meter of the wall of empty house to steal money from it the gas escaped to next door and made a woman ill. The d was charged with ‘maliciously administering a noxious thig’ he was found not guilty as he didn’t realize the risk of the gas escaping.
Savage
threw a glass f beer over the v in a club the glass slied from her hand and cut the v. the mens rea of recklessness could be proven so was liable for the v’s injuries
Pharmaceutical society of great Britain v storkwain ltd-
d supplied drugs to people who had forged prescriptions the actus reus was enough for this offence so d was charged of supplying drugs without prescriptions.
Callow v tillstone
a butcher sold a carcus after being assured by a vet that it was fit for human consumption. The meat was unfit, and the butcher was charged with selling unsound meat. The d was guilty even though he didn’t know the meat was unfit
Harrow LBC v shah and shah-
staff members at a newsagents sold lottery ticket to a 13-year-old despite being trained not to. They believed he was 16 and did not ask for ID. This is a strict liability offence and the owners of the shop were liable
Cundy v Le cocq
d was charged with selling liquor to a drunk person who they did not realize was drunk, the actus reus was enough for the conviction for this offence
Latimer
aimed to hit belt at a man in the club as he assaulted him the belt bounced off the man and hit a woman in the face. The d was guilty of assault against the woman even though he didn’t mean to hit her
Gnango
d and bandana man were shooting at each other when bandanna man hot an innocent passerby and killed them. Both men were attempting to kill each other so courts transferred the malice to the woman and they were both found guilty of her murder
Pemblinton
d threw a stone intending to hit people who he had being fighting he missed and smashed a window, the intention to hit people could not be transferred to the window so went under recklessness
Thablo Meli v R
attacked a man thinking they had killed him so threw the body off a cliff. The man survived the attack (mens rea) but died due to exposure at the bottom off the cliff (actus reus)
Church
had a fight with a woman and knocked her out after trying to bring her round for an hour he thought she was dead and threw her int the river where she died. The d was guilty for her death
Fagan cv MPC
d parked car on a police officers foot and was unaware until the officer asked him to remove it he refused to do so for several minutes. The actus reus was a continuing act as d had developed mens rea through it
R v le brun
knocked wife unconscious in the street so dragged her home he lost his grip and smashed her head on the pavement she fractured her skull and died. The original blow was the cause for the later acts reus as it opened a chain of events leading to her death
