Other Offences Flashcards
The third major culpable homicide charge is infanticide.
What is infanticide
Where a woman causes the death of any child of hers under 10yrs in a manner that is culpable homicide…
…where at the time the balance of her mind was disturbed…
…due to not having full recovered from birth/lactation/disorder…
…to an extent she should not be held fully responsible
Punishment for infanticide?
3 years
Who decides on the mother’s state of mind? (Re infanticide vs murder)
The jury
Ex she’s charged with murder/mans and the jury believes her state of mind is due to the effects of childbirth, the jury is required to return a special verdict of acquittal for insanity.
However, if prosecutions have also filed an infanticide charge it’s up the jury to decide between them.
S151, 152, 153 talk about legal duties to provide necessaries
What do the 3 sections cover?
151 - Duty to provide necessaries and protect from injury (vulnerable adults)
152 - Duty of parent or guardian to provide necessaries and protect from injury
153 - Duty of employers to provide necessaries
As per s151, define “vulnerable adult”
A person unable, by reason or detention, age, sickness, mental impairment, or any other cause, to withdraw himself or herself from the care of another person
What are some examples of “necessaries”?
Food
Clothing
Housing
Warmth
Medical care
S154 makes it a criminal act to abandon a child under 6
What is the max term of imprisonment?
7 years
S155 and 156 cover duty of persons doing dangerous acts / in charge of dangerous things
What are some examples of each?
155- administering surgical or medical treatment (except in case of necessity) has legal duty to use reasonable knowledge and skill
156- …has under his control anything whatever, animate or inanimate…legal duty to take reasonable precautions against danger/use reasonable care to avoid danger (vehicles, scaffolding, machinery, explosives, trains etc)
Finally, what duty does s157 cover?
Duty to avoid omissions dangerous to life
Can you be criminally responsible for driving someone (with no previous sickness etc) to commit suicide?
No
163- killing by influence on the mind
“No one is criminally responsible for killing another by influence on the mine alone except wilfully frightening a child <16 of sick person…”
Are you criminally liable for accelerating someone’s death already suffering a deadly disease ?
Yes
S164 Acceleration of death
“Everyone who by any act or omission causes the death of another person, kills that person… even if the injury caused was merely to hasten his death labouring under some other disorder or disease”
Are you liable if you cause someone to die but the death could’ve been prevented somehow?
Yes!
S165 “Causing death that might have been prevented”
R v Blaue - take your victim as you find them
R v Blaue (causing death that might have been prevented)
“Those who use violence must take their victims as they find them”
What are the two sections about “causing death”?
165- causing death that might have been prevented
166- causing injury the treatment of which causes death
What happens if you injure someone and they die during the treatment of that injury ? Are you liable for culpable homicide?
Yes!
166- causing injury the treatment of which causes death
Must be a dangerous injury and the treatment is the immediate cause of their death. The degree of liability depends on the mens rea.
Doesn’t matter if the treatment is improper (so long as applied in good faith)
What is meant by the term “novus acus interviens” ? (Regarding fatal treatment of injury)
Latin for: a new intervening act
An act that breaks the change of causation
Ie the patient who died because of an allergic reaction to a drug. The wound was healing before he died. The treatment was not normal, and the treatment directly caused his heath.
The defence of novus acus interviens was upheld.
A person is wounded in a duel and died of the result of the surgical operation to treat the wound.
Is the person who inflicted the wound guilty of murder?
Yes
166- causing injury the treatment of which causes death
A person is badly assaulted and requires an operation to treat his injuries. He dies under the administration of GA, is the assaulter guilty of murder?
Yes
166- causing injury the treatment of which causes death
Suicide offences:
179- Aiding and abetting suicide
What is the wording and penalty?
14 years!
…incites, counsels, or procures any person to commit suicide, if that person commits or attempts to commit suicide as a consequence
Or aids or abets any person in the commission of suicide
What’s an example of Aiding and abetting suicide?
Giving a tetraplegic an overdose of sleeping pills at their request.
There is a requirement that the aider actually “do something” to assist.
Suicide pacts.
People who, in the pursuance of a suicide pact, kill another are guilty of …?
Manslaughter, not murder.
Obviously only applies if one dies as the result of an action by another person.
What if two people self-administer an overdose as part of a suicide pact and only one dies.
Is the survivor liable?
Yes
Under s180 it is an offence (5yrs)
The survivor would be guilty of being a party to the death of the other.
NB they couldn’t be guilty of aiding an abetting (s179) as s180 suicide pact applies.
Under s181, what’s the penalty for Concealing a dead body of a child?
2 years
Under is 181 concealing dead body of child,
Explain the requirements for the section to apply?
The term child is not defined
The body is already dead when disposed of
The disposal must be done with the intent of concealing the fact of birth
In fantasied is a charge brought against a mother who has killed her child as a result of her mind being unbalanced due to the effects of…?
Giving birth or lactation
Because the law does not require a persons right to consent to death a person who helps another to commit suicide or who is part of a suicide pact but survives is responsible for the other person’s death.
What is the surviving person charged with?
Manslaughter
As per s18 of the evidence act
Hearsay evidence is generally admissible if …?
A) the circumstances relating to the statement provide reasonable assurance that the statement is reliable and
B) the maker is unavailable or the judge considers it undue expense or delay in having them as a witness
What are some factors (5) that demonstrate the reliability of a hearsay statement?
- the nature of the statement
- the contents of the statement
- the circumstances relating to the making of the statement
- the veracity of the person making it
- the accuracy of the observation of the person
