UDAM

Question 1

D must commit an unlawful act

Answer 1

It must be a criminal act, a civil wrong is not enough. (Franklin).
An omission will not do, there must be an act. (Lowe).

Question 2

D must have the mens rea for the unlawful act

Answer 2

If D does not have the mens rea for the unlawful act, no crime has been committed, so there is no unlawful act. (DPP v Newbury & Jones)

Question 3

The unlawful act must also be dangerous

Answer 3

• The test for what is dangerous is objective, would the sober and reasonable person foresee some risk of harm to the victim (Church).
• Harm means physical harm (Dawson).
• Burglary is not normally dangerous but it depends on circumstances (Burstow).
• Threats which can cause physical harm can amount to physical harm if D becomes aware of the V’s frailty (Watson).
• D does not have to foresee the risk of death (DPP v Newbury).
• The unlawful and dangerous act does not need to be directed at a particular victim (Goodfellow).

Question 4

The unlawful and dangerous act must cause the death

Answer 4

• If D injects V with a drug then the unlawful act is the administration of a noxious substance contrary to s.23 OAPA 1861 and causes this death (Cato).
• Supply of illegal drugs is an unlawful act but does not cause the death. The self-injection by V breaks the chain of causation (Dalby).
• If D helps with the injection of a drug by a tourniquet then D performed an unlawful act which caused death (Kennedy).