unlawful act manslaugher Flashcards
What is needed to prove UAM?
-the act must be unlawful
-mens rea for the unlawful act
-causation
-unlawful act must be dangerous
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How is UAM defined?
When D does not intend to kill or cause GBH but he has committed an unlawful act which has led to the death of V
R v Stone and Dobinson
An omission will be insufficient for unlawful act manslaughter- there must be an act
R v Franklin
A civil wrong is not enough to be established as a criminal wrong
R v Lamb
D must have all the elements of the unlawful act- AR and MR
DPP v Newbury and Jones
It is not necessary to prove that D foresaw any harm from his act- D only needs the MR of the unlawful act
Mitchell
Malice can be transferred from one victim to another
R V Dear
Self neglect by V does not break the chain of causation
Cato
D was involved in the drug taking so no break in CoC
Kennedy
V breaks the link from D by injecting drug into himself
Church
An act is dangerous if a sober and reasonable person would realise that it carries a risk of some (physical) harm to another person
Dawson
The reasonable person in D and unaware of the V’s health would not have foreseen the possibility of death from shock and so the act was not dangerous
Watson
Reasonable person would have realised the risk of physical harm to V as V was old and physically frail
R v JM and SM
There is no need for the sober and reasonable person to foresee the specific harm from which V died, only that V would suffer physical harm of some sort
Goodfellow
As long as the sober and reasonable person would realise it carried the risk of some physical harm to a person it is n UAM
R v Farnon and Ellis
no difference to liability due to low mental age
