Voluntary Manslaughter- Criminal Law

VOLUNTARY MANSLAUGHTER

Voluntary manslaughter is not an offence that can be charged by the prosecution. It is however a verdict which might be reached by the jury upon conclusion of a trial for murder of the defendant.

Voluntary manslaughter occurs in instances where the actus reus and mens rea of murder are present, therefore the defendant did intend to kill or cause grievous bodily harm but he puts forward the defence of loss of self control or diminished responsibility. In both instances the effect may lead to a reduction of the charge of murder to the conviction of manslaughter.

The accused from the onset may also plead guilty not to murder but to manslaughter based on either of these defences. The plea may either by accepted or rejected by the prosecution. If rejected the trial for murder will continue, with the accused having the evidential burden of establishing his defence to be considered by the jury. The prosecution for its part will seek to negative this defence, and must do so beyond a reasonable doubt if a verdict of guilty of murder is to be achieved.

LOSS OF SELF CONTROL

The common law defence of provocation was replaced by the statutory defence of loss of self control. This was promulgated into law by virtue of section 54 of the Coroner’s and Justice Act 2009.

Section 54 (1) notes:

Where a person (‘D’) kills or is party to the killing of another (‘V’), D is not to be convicted of murder if:

a) D’s acts and omissions in doing so or being a party to the killing resulted from D’s loss of self control,

b) The loss of self control had a qualifying trigger, and

c) A person of D’s sex and age, with a normal degree of tolerance and self restraint and in the circumstances of D, might have reacted in the same or in a similar way to D.

The elements of the offence

(1) Loss of Self-Control

As with provocation, loss of self control does not mean total loss of control to the point where the...