Criminal - Seminar 3 - Omissions - SW202 by Claire Turner

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claire43 — 2022-10-12 09:20:31 UTC

Criminal Law Act 1977

claire43 — 2022-10-12 09:20:35 UTC

1. D celebrates his success in his examinations too well. He gets very drunk and passes out in the Student Union. His friends decide to take him home. While passing the Indian High Commission they decide to have some fun and deposit D in the hallway of the High Commission. D is found there and arrested for an offence under s9 of the Criminal Law Act 1977.Is he likely to be convicted if prosecuted?

claire43 — 2022-10-12 09:20:42 UTC

Dave is a thirty year old man who lives with Violet, his mother who is bedridden. Dave cares for Violet by providing her with food and changing her medical dressings. Violet gives Dave money to cover the costs of the food and pays the mortgage on their house.Dave begins a relationship with Abby. After 3 weeks Abby starts to stay at the house at weekends, and after 4 months of being in the relationship and staying at weekends, Abby tells Dave that she has booked a fortnight holiday in Spain for them. Dave tells Abby of his concerns in relation to Violet, but Abby states that Dave has “done his bit” and should ask his sister to look after “her mother” for once. Dave telephones his sister and leaves an answerphone message to the effect that she will have to look after Violet for the next 2 weeks as Dave will be on holiday. Dave’s sister (who lives 10 miles away from Violet) accidentally deletes the message before she had been able to listen to it. Whilst Dave and Abby are on holiday Violet dies through lack of food and an infection caused by the unchanged dressings. Discuss whether Dave and/or Abby have a duty to act here (such that failure to do so could fulfil the actus reus requirement of manslaughter). Do not consider any other element of the offence at this stage (we cover homicide in depth later in the term). Assess the criminal liability of Dave Assess the criminal liability of Dave and Abby.

claire43 — 2022-10-12 09:20:48 UTC

Link to textbook Loveless on Law Trove

claire43 — 2023-10-12 12:04:56 UTC

claire43 — 2025-10-07 15:36:38 UTC

I - Did Dave/Abby have a legal Duty to act

R - Rule

A - Application

C - conclusion

Dave's liability

claire43 — 2025-10-07 15:52:26 UTC

Duty - Assumption of responsibility

Stone & Dobinson - Ratio - 'reckless disregard of danger to the health and welfare of the infirm person. Mere inadvertence is not enough. The defendant must be proved to have been indifferent to an obvious risk of injury to health, or actually to have foreseen the risk but to have determined nevertheless to run it.'

Application - how did he know there was an obvious risk? He used care for and contacted his sister to take over. By going on holiday he has chosen to run the risk

A reasonable person would have visited the sister/called from holiday/ arranged someone to check on her.

In the alternative a duty could be created by the dangerous situation he has failed to rectify by calling sister/medical help (Miller)

Instan - ' wilfully and deliberately left unperformed, with the consequence that there has been an acceleration of the death of the deceased owing to the non-performance of that legal duty...'

There are no distinguishing facts as in both Instan and S & D they involve a vulnerable individual who is reliant on their relative who has then abandoned them.

Abby

claire43 — 2025-10-07 15:54:55 UTC

Duty - If she wasn't involved in active care, then she wouldn't have assumed responsibility

Booked holiday - created dangerous situation - R v Evans? Defence