Loss of Control

Loss of Control

1. s54+s55 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009

2. its a special and partial defence

   • it's partial because it reduces the offence from murder to voluntary manslaughter
   • it's special because it can only be used with murder

3. this defence replaced the defence of provocation

4. Elements

   • 1. Loss of control, but not sudden
     • Ahluwalia
       • After years of physical and emotional abuse by her husband d set fire to him while he was sleeping and he died
       • D must prove they lost control this need not be sudden eg: ‘battered wife syndrome'
   • 2. Qualifying Trigger-s55
     • Anger Trigger
       • Things said or done which constitutes circumstances of an extremely grave character AND caused D to have a justifiable sense of being seriously wronged
         • Doughty
           • D lost control and killed his baby who had been crying repeatedly
           • The baby crying may be seen to be of grave character (subjective) but it is unlikely to be justifiable (objective)
         • Zebedee
           • D lost control and killed his father, he argued that this was due to anger because his father abused him as a child
           • Evidence of abuse may amount to anger trigger
     • Fear Trigger
       • D must be in fear of serious violence
         • Martin
           • V broke into D’s home, D shot and killed V as he ran away
           • Martins fear may be enough to satisfy the fear trigger
   • 3. comparator
     • Anger management issues or easier loss of temper are not relevant circumstances
     • A comparator is a person of the D’s sex and age in the circumstances of D, (except as bearing on general capacity for tolerance and self-restraint)
       • Camplin
         • D was a 15yr old who was being taunted about earlier sexual abuse by V, one day he hit V with a chapati pan and killed him
         • D must always be judged against someone of the same age and gender
       • Gregson
         • D was depressed, epileptic and unemployed, v taunted him and d lost control and killed him.
         • Circumstances adopted by the comparator are unemployment, epilepsy and depression
       • Hill
         • D was sexually abused as a child and as an adult she feared an attack from v so lost control and killed him
         • Defendant's history of abuse was a relevant characteristic
       • Van Dongen
         • 2 D’s attacked V, with malice aforethought after V allegedly attacked them with a street sign.
         • If the jury conclude that the normal person (comparator) in D’s circumstances wouldn’t have reacted in the same way then defence will fail
     • asked at the end whether the comparator would of reacted in the same way
   • Excludes matters of sexual infidelity, revenge or incitement
     • Defence will fail if the reason falls into one of the excluded matters The standard of self control
       • Clinton
         • Killed his wife after he found out she had been cheating on him, she was taunting him with pictures and about his suicidal thoughts
         • Sexual infidelity cannot be used as a qualifying trigger alone however it can be used to support trigger eg; anger
       • Ibrams and Gregory
         • D and 2 others had planned to attack V due to earlier harassment so lured V to D’s flat to do it - V died during attack
         • Any evidence of a planned attack may be considered revenge and so the defence will fail
       • Bailie
         • D discovered V had been selling drugs and threatening his son, D became angry so put a hammer, an axe and a shotgun in his car and drove to V where he then killed him with shotgun
         • The longer the time delay the less likely it is that the defence of loss of control can be proven because the longer the time delay the actions may been seen as revenge