Foundations of Criminal Law Lecture 5 PDF

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Foundations of Criminal Law Lecture 5...

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´ R v Nedrick D poured paraffin through the letterbox of the house of a woman against whom he had a grudge and set fire to it. A child was killed and D was convicted of murder Conviction for murder quashed - Did D foresee that the death of injury was “highly probable”? ´ R v Hancock & Shankland D, one of the striking minors pushed a concrete block from a motorway bridge intending to scare working miners travelling bellow. The block killed V. - Conviction for murder quashed on appeal. - ‘ the greater the probability of a consequence the more likely it is that the consequence was foreseen. The more chances that it could be foreseen the higher chance that he intended it. R. v Woollin (1998) The Defendant threw his 3 month old son some four feet towards his pram. The child hit his head and died. The foresight of consequences was not considered. House of Lords quashed the conviction for murder and substituted it for manslaughter. - ‘virtual certainty’. ´ jury feel sure that death or serious bodily harm was a virtual certainty (barring some unforeseen intervention) as a result of the defendant's actions and that the defendant appreciated that such was the case. ´ Recklessness ´ If the person takes an unjustifiable risk and as a result causes serious harm, the law does not allow them to escape punishment on the basis that they did not intend the risk to result in harm but was simply reckless about it. ´ Cunningham ´ D tore a gas meter from the wall in order to steal money from it. Gas escaped into his neighbour’s house and was inhaled by V. ´ Conviction quashed: D must foresee the risk. (Subjective test for recklessness). ´ Caldwell [1982] ´ D, who had been drinking heavily, started a fire in a hotel. ´ Expanded Cunningham definition: - D foresaw a risk; or - failed to foresee a risk that would have been obvious to the reasonable person ´ G [2003] ´ D (11 and 12 year old children) set fire to some newspapers under a wheelie bin. Convicted of criminal damage to buildings. ´ HL overruled Caldwell and restate the subjective test set out in Cunningham....