There are two Sections to the Assessment set out on the following pages.
Candidates MUST answer TWO QUESTIONS:
Section A Compulsory Homicide problem question, and
Section B Answer ONE question from a choice of 5 in this section.
Both questions carry equal marks and it is recommended that you allocate your word length accordingly.
Please submit your answers to both questions in one document with one bibliography at the end.
Please number the questions you answer.
SECTION A: Compulsory problem question
All candidates must answer this question
1. Sophia and her friend Lucy are in a fenced play area, watching their children whilst discussing Sophia’s relationship with her husband Bashir. Sophia is just telling Lucy that she thinks he is having an affair, when they look up and see Bashir walking hand-in-hand with another woman.
Without a thought for her child, Sophia rushes out of the play area towards them. She’s carrying an umbrella which she uses to hit her husband over the head, cowering away he tells her to ‘get off, you mad bitch’, but undeterred she continues hitting him. She has almost forgotten the woman, Sudipta, until Sudipta tries to get her to stop, yelling at Sophia to ‘leave him be’ and go back to her child. Enraged Sophia snaps off a metal prong from the (now broken) umbrella and thrusts it into Sudipta’s stomach, who collapses.
Distracted by these events Lucy, who stayed in the play area, does not notice that Sophia’s five-year-old son has wandered away. A man, Saka is standing near the entrance gate, he sees the young boy running through an open gate towards the road and could easily have stopped him, but instead, because he does not like children, just watches as the boy runs into traffic and is killed instantly.
An ambulance is called for both Bashir and Sudipta. Bashir dies in surgery for a bleed on the brain. Sudipta, who is 7 months pregnant, has an emergency caesarean and treatment for her wound. She declines however a recommended blood-transfusion because of her beliefs and has a cardiac arrest due to blood loss, which causes her death. Her baby daughter also passes away three days later as a result of complications from prematurity.
Discuss the criminal liability (if any) of the parties for the deaths of Bashir, Sudipta, Sophia’s son and Sudipta’s daughter.
SECTION B:
Answer only ONE question from a choice of five in this section.
2. “Having started by trying to read and understand the 1861 Act, I was struck by the outdated use of words and phrases. Reading it was akin to plaiting fog.”
Explain this comment by reference to sections 47, 20 and 18 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861. Are there any other criticisms of these offences in the current law?
3. Lewis and Onyi are friends since meeting in High School in 2020. Onyi is not aware that Lewis fancies her and after a night out drinking together, she invites Lewis back to her flat for coffee. At 1 am Onyi tells Lewis that she is tired, assuming that her friend will take the hint and leave, but instead Lewis leans over and kisses her. Onyi tells Lewis to ‘stop’ but he strokes Onyi’s thigh and says ‘you know you want it’.
Onyi is angry and tells him to go. She hears the door slam on the landing and is relieved as she thinks Lewis has left. She goes to bed and falls asleep quickly because she is actually quite drunk. She wakes the next morning and finds herself naked in bed with Lewis. Onyi asks Lewis what has happened and Lewis tells her that they had sex, that Onyi was very keen, and even took off her own clothes. Onyi has no recollection of these events. Friends later tell her that they saw Lewis spiking her lager with triple vodkas earlier the previous evening.
Discuss Lewis’s potential criminal liability under the Sexual Offences Act 2003.
4. The definition of Theft is simple to state but it is an offence that extends beyond what the general public might consider to be criminal.
Discuss, with close reference to statutory provisions and key case law.
5. Nigel wants to rob a security van. He phones his friend Omar, asking if he ‘wants in on the job for half of the money’. Omar is shocked at the suggestion and puts the phone down.
Nigel then turns to his wife Pauline, who agrees to be part of the plan. Pauline is however scared of her husband and only intends to drive him to the chosen location, and then play no further part in the robbery.
Later that day, Pauline drops Nigel off opposite a shop where the security firm makes deliveries. Nigel watches the van arrive from a safe distance and then starts to cross the road towards the van. As he does so the police arrive and arrest him. Unknown to Nigel, Omar had reported the planned robbery after receiving his call.
Discuss the criminal liability, if any, of the parties involved in this scenario
6. General defences are often categorised as either justifications or excuses for harmful actions.
Explain these terms and illustrate their meaning through a detailed examination of two different general defences in the criminal law.
END
