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    Criminal Homicide-Murder Notes

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    Aisharehan

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    Criminal Homicide-Murder Notes

    Uploaded by

    Aisharehan
    12 views2 pages

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    Copyright:

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    12 views2 pages

    Criminal Homicide-Murder Notes

    Uploaded by

    Aisharehan

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 2

    Criminal Homicide

    Murder:

    Actus Reus:

     Unlawful killing of a human being (foetus independent of the mother until brain activity
    seizes). Even mercy killing is unlawful (Nickelsson case).

    Mensrea:

     Intention to kill or cause grievous bodily harm (R v Vickers), (R v Cunningham).

    Partial Defences:

     Murder is the only offence, which has partial defences which, if successful, will
    mitigate/reduce liability to voluntary manslaughter.

    Loss of Self-control:

     Set out under Section 54 of the Coroners and Justice Act where the following needs to be
    proven.
    o There has to be a subjective loss of self-control.
    o The loss of self-control has to be due to one of the two qualifying triggers:
     Fear of serious violence (R v Clegg).
     Circumstances of extremely grave character, which gives a person a
    justifiable sense of being seriously wrong. In considering grave character,
    the courts consider the history (Ahluwalia case). Sexual infidelity is not a
    trigger as stated under Section 54 of the Act and affirmed in Dawes v
    Hatter however, if there are multiple triggers then infidelity will be
    ignored and the defence can be grounded on the other triggers (Clinton
    Parker case).
     A reasonable person of the defendant’s sex and age in the same circumstances would
    have done the same thing (this is an objective factor which is determined by the jury and
    personal elements such as intoxication and mental illness are not considered).
     Under section 54, there is no requirement that the loss of self-control be sudden however,
    if there is a time lapse between the event and the murder, it will be very difficult to prove
    that the killing was due to loss of self-control and not revenge.

    Diminished responsibility:

     Set out under Section 3 of the Homicide Act where the following needs to be proven.
    o There has to be a recognised mental illness.
    o The mental illness has to result in the defendant being substantially impaired to
    either:
     Exercise self-control.
     Form a rational judgement.
     Understand the nature of his conduct.
    o The mental illness has to provide an explanation for the killing (a jury has to
    decide)
    o Battered Women Syndrome is a recognised mental condition (Ahluwalia case).
    ‘The last straw that broke the camel’s back.’

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