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You are here: Homepage » Human Rights » Essays » Guilty Defendant And Death

Guilty Defendant and Death | Human Rights Essay

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When dealing with indictable offences such as murder and assault which are result crimes it must be proved that the action and the intention of the accused caused the consequences. In order to accuse a person of these indictable offences two important elements need important consideration.

The first one is the Actus Rea the conduct and `guilty act` this is when the cause of the death is looked at weather the death was caused by the actions of the accused or not i.e. unlawful killing of a human being by another under the Queens pace.

The second one being Mens Rea which is the state of mind of the defendant also known as `guilty mind`. This is recognised as malice aforethought which is the intent to kill or to inflict bodily injury, either expressed or implied.

Implied malice is easy to establish as it clearly is identified to cause death whereas GBH which is under S20 OAPA was defined in the case DPP v smith as a `really serious harm`.

Mens Rea is required in all most all serious crimes.It can be argued that although Penny’s action caused Mr. Sterling’s death she didn’t have the necessary Mens Rea i.e. the intention to kill Mr. Sterling. The Jury will have to look at what Penny was thinking at the time she hit Mr .Sterling with the fire side poker i.e. did she have the intention to kill him or hurt him?

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However for a successful prosecution the Jury have to ask themselves was the death caused because Penny hit Mr Sterling with the fire – side poker? Or was it caused because he drowned? Also would Mr Sterling still be alive if these actions didn’t take place?

It can be identified that although the intention to kill was not present the intention to cause GBH might have been present which led to Penny grabbing the fire side poker.

For this the Jury will have to look at if the death caused was Causation in law or Causation in fact. Causation in fact is when the jury have to prove would the death have taken place if the accused didn’t do the actions they did. Causation in law is where the jury have to prove that did the accused cause the death.

Referring back to the scenario it could be argued that Penny didn’t have the intention to kill Mr. Sterling as he died from drowning which shows when penny hit him with the fire side poker he did not die. This shows that Penny’s actions did not result in the death .This could lead the action to a `separable action` and henceforth it could be identified that Mens Rea for murder could not be present as the intention to kill was not there when he drowned.

“Intention is an often used word in the English dictionary. Its meaning in law despite its importance is as a fundamental concept as problematic, though arguably less

Problematic then it used to be. The basic definition according to Robert Walker LJ in the civil case of Re A (2001) is `purpose`.

In the case of Hyam v DPP (1974) ` prosecution must prove, beyond all reasonable doubt that the accused intended to kill or do serious bodily harm, if they are satisfied that when the accused set fire to the house they knew that it was highly probable that this would cause death or serious bodily harm then the prosecution will have established the necessary intent.

In Penny’s case it has to be proved weather Penny was aware that her hitting Mr. Sterling would cause his death or not. The prosecution must prove that the Actus Rea and Mens Rea for Penny corresponds to the crime committed I.e. murder.

Another element the jury could look at is even though Penny did not want to drown or dispose Mr Sterling’s body she could still have had the necessary Men Rea to cause murder even when the body was dumped in the river to cover up the crime. Henceforth if the jury think that Penny wasn’t bothered or cared whether she killed or caused GBH during her actions then she could be guilty of manslaughter.

When all the elements needed to be discussed for murder have been looked at we then move on to look at which defences are available for Penny’s prosecution to be reduced from murder to manslaughter. “ The old classification of manslaughter was involuntary and voluntary, the former being when the accused had the Mens Rea for murder but there are some mitigating factors, which could be provocation, diminished responsibility or killing in pursuance of a suicide pact` .

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There are two types of manslaughter which are:

Involuntary manslaughter: this is when the accused kills someone but has mitigating factors. In this type of manslaughter only the Actus Rea of murder is present without the Mens Rea.

Voluntary manslaughter: is when the accused wants to do the action but doesn’t know what the results will be. Voluntary manslaughter arises when the Mens Rea and Actus Rea for murder are present.

Elements which act as partial defences to reduce murder to manslaughter are under the Homicide Act 1957.

Homicide Act 1957 introduced diminished responsibility and suicide pact as further defences. S3 of the Homicide act 1957 is the provocation defence. Provocation is a partial defence which reduces the charge of murder to manslaughter. For this the Judge would have to look at evidence which can show that Penny was provoked by Mr. Sterling. I.e. she can argue during her confrontation with Mr. Sterling she got provoked by him and was agitated and disgusted and hit him with the fire side poker.

S3 of the Homicide Act doesn’t include any exclusion to the defence when the `loss of self control` is through anger. Therefore the jury would have to look in great detail as to what made Penny loose her self control and what were her emotions that led to such actions. The jury would look at the seriousness of provocation as it could have easily been exaggerated but the loss of her self control should have been sudden and provisional`

Another defence which might lead murder to manslaughter is the diminished responsibility defence this defence is in S 2 of the homicide act 1957 this is where the accused is retarded or suffers from a disease which makes them abnormal it provides that the accused must be suffering from an abnormality of mind arising from an internal source, which significantly affects their mental responsibility.

If this defence is used then the accused would have to prove medical evidence which shows that the accused was suffering from some sort of abnoramlity at the time of the incident. In Penny’s case she can prove medical evidence which shows that she was depressed, jealous or having mentality problems because her husband who she had been nursing for seven years betrayed her by living his will for another lady. And hence she was unable to think at the time of the incident what she was doing and therefore she did not have the intention to kill Mr Sterling but did the Actus Rea because the betrayal had affected her mind.

It is clear Penny had not conspired to murder Mr Sterling. However Penny caused the Murder even though the Actus Reus was present the Mens Rea was not clear in the second act she committed. Using the defence of provocation she can fight the case to reduce her charge from murder to manslaughter.

Moving on Prosperity could be charged for aiding and abetting the crime. The meaning of aiding is "to aid" or "give help, support or assistance to the personal offender at the scene of the crime. It is not necessary to prove agreement or consensus between the principal offender and the person charged with aiding the commission of the offence. No causative link needs to be established between that which is done by the aider and the crime committed by the principal offender.`

The meaning of abetting is "to abet" or "to incite, instigate or encourage". Abetting takes place when an accomplice is at the scene of the crime at the time it was committed. Abetting implies consensus between the principal offender and the abettor. However, there need be no causative link between the actions of the abettor and those of the principal offender in committing the offence.`

Prosperity had the right to control the actions of Penny but she deliberately refrained from exercising them. She also expressed anger towards Mr Sterling in the existence of Penny and did not do anything to prevent Penny from causing Mr Sterling any harm.

Prosperity’s inactivity can be seen as a positive encouragement towards Penny to perform the illegal act, and therefore, could be charged for aiding and abetting the crime. However the court would have to look at to what extent was she involved in the crime.

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