The Crown must prove that Becca, Carrie and Delia have the necessary actus reus and means rea to convict them of culpable homicide. The actus reus of culpable homicide and murder are the same: an act or omission which causes the destruction of life. To establish the mens rea of culpable homicide beyond reasonable doubt , it is ‘necessary to show gross, or wicked, or criminal negligence, something amounting, or at any rate analogous, to a criminal indifference to consequences.’ The actus reus requires that the accused’s actions caused the death of the deceased. The lack of an overt act in this case means that it must be proven that the actus reus involves criminal liability for omissions. For the most part ,one does not have a duty to intervene …show more content…
It is suggested that friends do not have a duty to act and neither would cousins. Delia and Carrie will therefore not have a duty to act under this category. Becca however was in a civil partnership with the deceased. R v Russell raises the question of a spouse’s liability for their partner’s death, and suggests that there is no liability where one spouse fails to prevent another from voluntarily harming themselves. In the facts of the case though, it could be argued that the deceased was not ‘voluntarily’ harming herself. The clear evidence that she was pressurised from Becca to lose weight demonstrates that but for Becca’s threats, Annie may not have died from starvation. It is necessary to prove that a causal link exists between the conduct of the accused and the end result without any novus actus interveniens. The fact that Becca was in Strasbourg at the time of Annie’s death is irrelevant here because the situation was a long-term problem and foreseeable from the beginning. Becca could therefore be liable under this …show more content…
It has been established that she had a duty to act but failed to discharge this duty. Her negligence in carrying out her part of the contract, not only on the Friday night but throughout the semester, could be seen as indifferent to the consequences. It would be for the jury to decide whether her delayed acting amounted to criminal negligence but it appears that the Crown could also secure a conviction for Carrie. Applying the causation test, but for Carrie’s negligence Annie’s health problems could have been taken care of sooner and she would not have