Murder
Murder is an offence at common law. It constitutes the unlawful killing of any living being with the intention to kill or cause grievous bodily harm.
Every person of the age of discretion is presumed to be sane and accountable for their actions unless proven otherwise. Unlawful killing means killing without lawful authority, legal justification, or an excuse.
Killing refers to the act which is the substantial cause of death. If there is an intervening factor between the defendant’s actions and the death of the victim, the jury considers whether the defendant’s act contributed significantly to the death.
There must be an intention to kill or cause grievous bodily harm. Grievous bodily harm means serious or very serious harm. Bodily harm includes affecting.
It is presumed that a child up to 10 years of age cannot be guilty of an offence (England Children and Young Persons Act 1933 section 50.) Insanity is judged under the so-called M’Naghten rule.
If the defendant proves that at the time of the commission of the offence, they were labouring under a defect of reason from a disease of the mind, and that either they did not know what they were doing or did not know that what they were doing was wrong, insanity may be proved.
The intention to kill or cause grievous bodily harm does not necessarily mean a desire to do so. A person is normally deemed to intend and foresee the consequence of their actions.
The Criminal Justice Act (NI) 1966 defines an insane person as a person suffering from a mental abnormality which prevents them from appreciating what they’re doing or appreciating that what they are doing is either wrong or contrary to law, often controlling their conduct. It is presumed that every person is sane until the contrary is proved. A person may not be convicted of an offence if they are proved to be insane under the above act.
Where a person charged with murder has killed or is a party to killing, and it appears to the jury that they were suffering from mental abnormality which substantially impaired their mental responsibility for their acts and omissions in doing or being a party to the killing, the jury shall find them not guilty of murder, but shall find them guilty of manslaughter.
Where a person is found guilty of manslaughter under this provision, the court has the power to make a hospital restriction order for the discharge of the person, provided that this does not restrict the power of the court to sentence the person for manslaughter.
On a charge of murder, the jury may reject the plea that the person was insane but may find them to be suffering from a mental abnormality which substantially impairs their mental responsibility for the acts or omissions and may thereby find them guilty of manslaughter (diminished responsibility).
On a charge of murder, if the jury finds that the defendant was in the balance of probabilities an insane person whose mental abnormality was of a temporary nature and attributable solely to their own voluntary conduct in taking intoxicating liquor or drugs, they shall be convicted of manslaughter. However, if the jury is satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that an intention to kill or cause serious bodily harm existed prior to taking liquor or drugs, the person shall be convicted of murder.
Where on a charge of murder there was evidence that the person has been provoked, whether by things done or said or both, to lose self-control, the question of whether the provocation was enough to make a reasonable person do as they did is left to be determined by the jury. The jury shall take into account everything done and said according to the effect which it would have on a reasonable person.
The Coroners and Justice Act 2009, introduces a loss of control defence. If a person kills another, they are not guilty of murder if their acts and omissions in so doing or being a party to the killing resulted from their loss of control. The loss of control must have had a qualifying trigger, and a person of that defendant’s sex and age with a normal degree of tolerance and self-restraint in the circumstances might have reacted in the same or a similar way.
There must be a causal link between the acts of the defendants and death. If there was an intervening factor which breaks the chain of causation, the accused may be deemed not to have caused the victim’s death. However, the event must be entirely supervening, and if the actions could substantially cause death, causation would be established.
Any acceleration of death with the requisite intention is murder or manslaughter.
Murder or manslaughter committed by a UK citizen outside of the UK may be tried within the UK.
The qualifying trigger provision is part of the defence to murder. There must be a loss of self-control because of a fear of serious violence against the defendant or another.
Murder is subject to mandatory imprisonment for life. If the court sets a tariff with a minimum term before the defendant can be considered for release under the life sentences (NI Order 2001).
It is an offence under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 to solicit murder. A person who solicits, encourages, persuades, or endeavours to persuade or proposes to any person to murder another person is guilty of an offence and is liable to imprisonment for life.
Section 16 of the Offences Against the Person Act makes it an offence, without lawful excuse, to make a threat to another intending that the other would fear that it would be carried out to kill the other person or a third person. The offence is subject, upon conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term of up to 10 years.