Criminal Law The University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus

The University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus

Criminal Law The University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus

They had taken her into their home, they had assumed a
duty of care for her and had been grossly negligent in the
performance of that duty
Stone & Dobinson [1977]
S and D, allowed S’s anorexic sister and her condition
deteriorated, until she became bed-ridden. She needed
medical help, but none was summoned, and she eventually
died in squalor, covered in bed sores and filth.
Sinclair was guilty because they had a close relationship
and had assumed responsibility for him.
The other friend did not have the same relationship and
therefore was a held to a different standard.
Sinclair
Defendant stayed with the Victim while they did drugs. The
V overdosed, and they only tried to pour water on him. Did
not call an ambulance until it was too late
Contractual Duty
The contract is evidence of an assumption of responsibility
creating an expectation in the mind of others that the
defendant will act.
R v Pittwood [1902]
A train gatekeeper failed to close the gate and the victim
died
Statutory Duty
Failing to provide for a child in one’s care can be an offence s.1(1) Children and Young
Persons Act 1933;
Certain obligations on employers that if they fail they are
committing many offences
ss.2-7 Health and Safety at
Work Act 1974
Duties on members of the same house hold. Domestic Violence Crime and
Victims act 2005
Creating a Dangerous Situation
D was under a duty to act as he became aware of the risk,
he had to prevent or minimise the damage. Convicted of
arson, not for starting the fire but for failing to do anything
about it.
R v Miller [1983]
D a vagrant fell asleep on his mattress when he woke up,
he saw that his cigarette had caused the mattress to
smoulder. Instead of calling for help, just moved into
another room. The fire flared up and spread.
Where someone created a danger and thereby exposed
another to a reasonably foreseeable risk of injury, there
was an evidential basis for the actus reus of an assault
occasioning actual bodily harm.
Santana-Bermudez (2003)
D injured a woman police officer by allowing her to search
him, knowing he had hypodermic needles in his pockets
which stabbed her. D denied having any needles or sharps
when asked.e answer to the question ‘But for what the defendant
did would she have died?’
White [1910]
Legal Causation
D’s actions must be the legal cause, it must be approximate
to the result, a significant substantial cause, more than
trivial.
Hughes
Novus Actus Interveniens
Natural Events
The test is one of reasonable foresight. If it is reasonably
foreseeable it will not break the causal chain.
Hart
D’s attacked the victim, left her unconscious on a beach
below high-water mark. She was drowned by the incoming
tide. Held that the event was reasonably foreseeable, and
the D caused the death of the victim.
Acts of a Third Party
D’s actions need not be the sole or even the main cause of
death as long as they contributed significantly to that
result
R v Cheshire [1991]
D shot V in an argument in a chip shop, and V was taken to
hospital where a tracheotomy was performed. Six weeks
later, V suffered breathing problems because of the
tracheotomy scar and died. The hospital had been
negligent – perhaps even reckless – in not recognising the
likely cause of V’s problems and responding to them.
Held only in the most extraordinary/unusual circumstances
will the chain be broken Empress Car
Injuries inflicted by 3rd parties were so completely different
from injuries for which D was responsible that they
overwhelmed those injuries.
Rafferty [2007]
D and 2 others assaulted and robbed V on a beach. D then
took V’s debit card and went to a cash machine. Others
then dragged V into sea where V drowned.
If at the time of death, the original wound is still an
operating cause and a substantial cause, then death can be
said to be a result of the wound albeit that some other
cause is also operating.
R v Smith [1959]
(Medical negligence)
D stabbed V with a bayonet during a fight in barracks. V’s
friend took him to the first aid post, but on the way, he
dropped V twice. At the first aid post the medical officer
was busy and took some time to get to V who died about

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