Criminal Law- Homicide
UK references ONLY. Oscola referencing.
??The importance of clear and evidenced writing is key to all assignments. The clarity with which you explain things, the conciseness of your writing and the correct use of references to support your work underpin the marking criteria for all assignments.
Tom and Al are members of Barchester University athletics team. They are fierce rivals and one of them has been the winner of each race they have entered for the last two years. They are now competing in the preliminary race of the National University Games. The winner will go on to race in the highly prestigious International University Games.
While practicing two days before the race, Al injures his ankle, and although he is still fit enough to compete in the race, he realizes he now has no chance of defeating Tom. So he decides to find a way to slow Tom down. Al finds a jar containing a strong medical substance at his home, which he has been using as a muscle-relaxer. He reads the label on the jar and discovers that if the medical substance is taken without a doctor’s advice and in a very high dose, it can be dangerous as it increases the heart rate and even causes death in certain circumstances. Al decides that this is just the thing he needs to slow Tom down. Just before the race, Al puts all the contents of the jar containing the medical substance into Tom’s water bottle, and watches as Tom drinks all the contents of the water bottle. Half way through the race, Tom collapses in pain. He is rushed to Barchester University College Hospital (BUCH). The doctors there are able to regulate Tom’s heart beat again and connect him to an oxygen tank to enable him to breathe properly. The following day, however, the small tube which has been carrying oxygen from the tank into Tom’s body becomes disconnected and the doctors fail to realize this. Tom suffers a heart attack, and although the doctors try to resuscitate him, Tom dies.
It is later revealed that Tom is the fourth person in 2 months to die at BUCH following incidents involving the oxygen tank, and that the General Manager of BUCH had been informed of these incidents but had yet to take any steps to address the issue.
Advise Al, the doctors and BUCH of their potential criminal liability. It might be helpful to think about the following:
1. Al’s criminal liability for murder (actus reus and mens rea) ONLY.
2. Causation inparticular interventions between conduct and result (novusactus interveniens). Does the doctors’ conduct amount to a novus actus interveniens? Consider Jordan (1956) 40 Cr App R 152; Smith [1959] 2 QB 35; Cheshire [1991] 3 All ER 670.
3. Mens rea, in particular oblique intention: consider Woollin [1999] 1 AC 82.
4. The doctors’ criminal liability for killing by gross negligence. Consider
Adomako [1995] 1 A.C. 171.
5. BUCH’s liability for corporate manslaughter. Consider section 1(1) and (3) of
the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007.
Method of Approach
You need to ascertain from the facts whether the elements of a crime defined by the substantive law (here murder, gross negliegnce manslaughter and corporate manslaughter) are present i.e. the mens rea/fault and the actus reus. To do this you must research the relevant substantive law and then apply it to the facts. Just stating the substantive law will not be enough to pass the assignment. To obtain a B grade or above there must be evidence of considered thought when applying the law to the facts. Murder, gross negligence manslaughter and corporate manslaughter are result crimes so it must be proved that the defendant’s conduct caused the unlawful killing.
Do not totally rely on textbooks for research, as there may be highly relevant decisions in the law reports, which are not yet in the textbooks. When using law reports make sure you are using the latest decision i.e. do not use a Court of Appeal decision if there has been a House of Lords or Supreme Court decision, which has overruled the Court of Appeal.
Other Instructions
The assignment must use double spacing and have clear pagination. The assignment should be fully referenced (including a bibliography and using OSCOLA referencing). Grammar and spelling will be noted.
??The importance of clear and evidenced writing is key to all assignments. The clarity with which you explain things, the conciseness of your writing and the correct use of references to support your work underpin the marking criteria for all assignments.