The Death Of Lana Case Study

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The Death of Bella

It could be argued that Damien is guilty of manslaughter in regards to the death of Bella. This is following Robert J’s judgement in Dhaliwal, where he announced that “as to manslaughter… the prosecution of… any other individual whose unlawful conduct causes recognisable psychiatric illness, such as… reactive depression, with resulting suicide, subject always to issues of causation, is not excluded from the ambit of this offence”.

Unlawful Act Manslaughter

Damien may be convicted of unlawful act manslaughter, as a result of inflicting grievous bodily harm contrary to s.20 of the Offences Against The Person Act 1861 which resulted in Bella’s death.

In order for Damien to be guilty of this offence he has to be guilt of committing an unlawful act that caused, or resulted in the death of the victim, Bella. As established in Franklin, the unlawful act needs to be criminal but need not be violent. In this situation, Damien inflicted grievous bodily harm to Bella, resulting in the suicide attempt, which led to her eventual death. In accordance to the interpretation of ‘bodily harm’ followed by courts, it is possible for psychiatric injury to be included as such harm so long as it is a recognised psychological condition that is caused. As a result of Damien’s actions, Bella developed depression (a recognised condition). It can thus be seen that Damien inflicted grievous bodily harm. For this act to qualify for unlawful act it also needs to be dangerous. Dangerous is not given its ordinary meaning, but instead has a specific meaning that was given by Davies LJ in Church, concerning what a sober and reasonable person would regard as giving rise to some harm. In this situation, it is highly probably that the jury wil...

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...e the qualifying trigger. Clive, arguably, taunts Emil by telling him that the supposed affair isn’t surprising as Clive is neither good looking nor successful. Thus, it is the criticisms of his character as well as the sexual infidelity that supply the foundation required on which a reasonable jury may conclude that the defendant was provoked to lose his self-control.

The jury must also accept that a reasonable person sharing the characteristics (age and sex) of the defendant might have reacted as Emil did. In this situation, not only had Emil been provoked but had also been drinking. Despite significant divergence of judicial opinion over which subjective characteristics may influence this essentially objective jury decision.

Clive’s involvement
Clive could be charged with encouraging and assisting with murder contrary to Part II of the Serious Crime Act 2007.

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