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Criminal Law - 4- Homicide Offences - Coggle Diagram
Criminal Law - 4- Homicide Offences
Murder
4 essential aspects: defendant must
Cause
(applying factual and legal causation tests)
But for
Substantive Cause
Operative cause - no break in chain of causation
The death of another
human being
Unlawfully
(eg not in war)
With
intention
to
kill
OR
commit Grievous Bodily Harm
Can be caused by either
Action
Inaction (if duty of care exists)
A foetus doesn't count; must be 'fully expelled from the womb'
Death = Brain Dead
Mens Rea is either:
Intention to
kill
; or
Intention to cause
grievous bodily harm
Mandatory life sentence
Voluntary Manslaughter
Actus
and
mens
rea of
murder are MET
; BUT
Partial defence
is applicable
Reduces murder to manslaughter
Partial defence 1: Diminished Responsibility
Defendant must demonstrate
abnormality of mental functioning, which:
Arises from a
recognised medical condition
; and
Abnormality
substantially impaired defendant's ability to:
Understand
their
conduct's
nature
; or
Ie mental illness makes child think if shoot someone, they'll regenerate like in a video game
Form a
rational judgement
; or
Exercise
self-control
Abnormality must
provide explanation for killing
Burden of proof on defendant on
civil standard
Partial defence 2: Loss of Control
Defendant must show
Loss
of
self-control
, which:
Loss of self-control
resulted in their role in the killing
(ie couldn't control themselves)
Loss of
self-control
was caused by a
QUALIFYING TRIGGER
2 QUALIFYING TRIGGERS
Fear of
serious violence
from
victim
against
defendant OR ANOTHER PERSON
; or
Fear need not be of immediate violence
Speech or action which created
extremely grave circumstances
, thus giving the defendant a
justifiable sense of being seriously wronged
(Jury decides if justifiable)
Explicitly
excludes adultery
Revenge and adultery explicitly excluded
A hypothetical person in defendant's position
may have reacted the same way
Prosection must
DISPROVE
BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT
Pay attention to burden of proof; different for each
Involuntary Manslaughter
Actus
and
mens
rea of
murder are NOT MET
;
Unlawful Act Manslaughter
Defendant commits a
criminal offence
that
carries objective risk to victim
, and victim
dies
as a result
Defendant's act must be:
Intentional
Unlawful
(underlying criminal offence)
Dangerous
(objective risk)
Cause of death (factual and legal causation)
But for, substantial, operative (no break in chain of causation)
Requires a
positive act; can't be caused by omission
Gross Negligence Manslaughter
Can be
positive act OR omission
Duty of Care MUST exist
And was
breached
Tested on
standard of profession, etc
Defendant must act in
such a negligent way
that they're
criminally culpable
There was a
serious
+
obvious
RISK OF DEATH
The breach amounted to
gross negligence