Voluntary manslaughter

Voluntary manslaughter

1. two partial defences to murder

   • Loss of control
     • Coroners and Justice Act 2009
       • s54
         • D is not to be convicted of murder if: - D's acts/omissions resulted from D's LOC - LOC has a qualifying trigger- person of D's sex age with normal degree tolerance self restraint in same circumstances might have reacted same / similarly
         • the killing must have been caused by LOC
           • LOC does not need to be sudden
             • Thornton
               • stabbed husband with carving knife. recognised that LOC is contextual and need to consider years of abuse 
             • Ahluwalia
               • poured petrol on husband while he slept and set him alight 
         • must be full LOC, not just self-restraint
           • Cocker
             • tried to ease wife's pain and end her life, assisted suicide, evidence showed had not lost control
         • LOC has qualifying trigger
         • person with D's sex & age
           • with normal degree of tolerance & self control
             • in circumstances of D
               • might have reacted same / similarly
                 • Holley
                   • D was alcoholic and while drunk killed his girlfriend with an axe after finding out she slept with another man
                   • Privy Council: D to be judged against the standard of person having ordinary powers of self control
                     • alcoholism therefore not a relevant matter
                   • sexual infidelity can be considered among circumstances
                     • Clinton
                       • D killed wife after finding out affair and seen graphic images of her and new lover on FB
                 • Asmelash
                   • D had been drinking with another man, got into fight, D killed him
                   • would someone of same age/sex/circumstances have reacted in the same way if sober?
                     • CoA held that consumption of alcohol be ignored
                 • Camplin
                   • 15 year old killed a man who sexually attacked him with a chapati pan
                   • decided that age/sex is relevant
               • history of abuse
               • circumstances whose only relevance to D's conduct is that they bear on a general capacity for tolerance or self retraint are excluded s54(3)
                 • things that made D lose control more easily are excluded
                   • being drunk
                   • aggressive by nature
                   • bad temper
                     • Mohammed
                       • strict muslim father killed daughter after finding her in bedroom with boyfriend
       • qualifying triggers s55
         • fear of serious violence from V against D (or other)
           • violence need not be directed at D
             • Pearson
         • things done or said
           • circumstances of extremely grave character
           • caused D to have justifiable sense of being seriously wronged
           • exclusions
             • defence not allowed if D acts in a considered desire for revenge
               • Ibrams and Gregory
                 • Ds and a girl were terrorised by V. enticed V to girl's bed and Ds would attack.  attack was seceral days later and attack planned no loss of control
             • where D incites fear of violence in order to the excuse to use violence
             • sexual infidelity
     • replaced defence of provocation
       • Doughty
         • crying of baby amounted to provocation. this would not succeed with new LOC defence as a crying baby is not a threat of violence, nor circumstances of a grave character etc
       • Baillie
         • killed drug dealer who threatened son  traffic delays, remained out of control
       • Thornton
       • Ahluwalia
     • Burden of proof on D to prove LOC
       • prosecution to disprove beyond all reasonable doubt
   • Diminished responsibility
     • Homicide Act 1957 s2(1)
       • as amended by s52 Coroners and Justice Act 2009
         • s52
           • abnormality of mental functioning
             • cause by a recognised medical condition
               • Byrne
                 • sexual psychopath, strangled a woman to death
                 • psychopathy
                   • an abnormality is something ordinary people would deem abnormal
               • voluntary intoxication will not suffice
                 • Dowds
                   • attacked his girlfriend while drunk
               • ADS is acceptable however
                 • Wood
                   • diagnosed with ADS, killed in a frenzied attack whilst drunk
               • Dietschmann
                 • savagely attacked someone whilst suffering depression and was also drunk 
                 • depression was cause of abnormality so jury can ignore intoxication
               • Martin
                 • farmer shot intruders with shotgun
                 • paranoid personality disorder
               • Thornton / Ahluwalia
                 • Battered woman syndrome
               • Freaney
                 • woman killed her severely autistic son by who needed 24 hour care by strangling him  and then tried to commit suicide sentenced to supervision order
                 • extreme mental stress
               • Reynolds
                 • young mother killer her mother with a hammer
                 • post-natal depression
               • English
                 • PMT
           • substantially impairs D's ability
             • to understand the nature of their conduct
             • to form a rational judgement
             • to exercise self-control
               • Zebedee
                 • killed incontinent alzheimers father, both DR and LOC defences failed
                 • defence failed
             • impairment need not be total but must be more than trivial / minimal
               • Lloyd
             • substantial does not have to be total but must be more than trivial
               • Egan
                 • D killed woman whilst suffering abnormality of mind and being intoxicated
           • provides an explanation for D's acts / omissions
             • Gittens
               • depression aside from intoxication was enough
     • burden on proof of D to prove on balance of probabilties