Decide whether the rules of causation are now weighted too far against the interests of the defendant.

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Deepti Teelanah

Decide whether the rules of causation are now weighted too far against the interests of the defendant.

When deciding on a case of death, the courts use the ‘but for’ test, i.e. but for the defendants act, the death would not have happened. In the case of White 1910:

The accused had intended to murder his mother, he had poison in a glass ready for her but she suddenly died from a heart failure, she died due to the heart failure and not the poison. The defendant could only be liable for attempted murder but it is clear that he had desired it to happen. He could not, therefore be found guilty of murder. When deciding what the legal cause of death is, two more issues are looked at more closely:

Firstly, did the act of the defendant play a significant (more than a minimal role) part in causing the death of the victim? Secondly, has any other event occurred to break the chain of causation? It has been determined that an event of this kind needs to be something completely unforeseeable.

         It’s not thought unforeseeable that the police might return the fire of a gunman. In the case of Pagett 1983: The accused was being pursued by the police and had forcibly taken his pregnant girlfriend captive after injuring her mother and stepfather. He later came out of one the flats, using his girlfriend as a shield. He then fired his shot gun at 2 officers. The policeman fired back and the girl was hit by 3 bullets and killed. The defendant was found guilty of her manslaughter but appealed against this, arguing that the judge had misdirected the jury by stating that he had been the cause of the victim’s death, not the police officers that fired the bullets. The Court of Appeal found that there was no misdirection.

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It is also considered unforeseeable that the victim that the victim might try to escape. Where in the case of Pitts 1942: the defendant was held to be responsible for his death when he jumped into a river to escape further violent assaults. Also in the case of Mackie 1973, a father frightened his 3 year old son so severely that the child fell down the stairs and was killed. In another case, Williams 1992: the prosecution claimed that the deceased had jumped from a moving car because he was in fear of being robbed. It was alleged that his ...

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