Claire and Tony Case Analysis - Assignment Example

?Swarna1 Word Count 2038 Order 528374 d 1st May CRIMINAL LAW Case study: Claire and Tony have been married for 15 years and they have 3 daughters aged 4, 11 and 14. Tony has always been a very domineering husband and father but over the last 3 years his desire to control everything and everybody around him has become more extreme. When Claire disagrees with him or wants to do something on her own without his permission he loses his temper and shouts and screams at her and both threatens to be and is physically violent to her. Sometimes his violence takes the form of sexual assault – which he says is just his right as a husband. Claire is terrified and feels powerless to do anything. She wants to protect her daughters and is especially concerned that Tony might be violent towards them. Question (a) : One night Claire wakes up because she can hear what she thinks is Tony forcing her eldest daughter to have sex with him. She is too scared to do anything immediately. Much later when Tony is asleep Claire goes to the kitchen finds a knife walks into the bedroom and stabs Tony 10 times. Tony dies instantly and Claire then calls the police. The criminal liability of Claire raising all the possible defences can be described as follows: The criminal liability of Claire in the present case is getting involved in murder of her husband. The criminal law always protects the interests of the persons who are forced to commit violence1. This holds good especially in those cases where self protection takes the priority2. In several occasions, the people may undergo mental tension for long term affecting their regular mental state and in the events of unforeseen nature, they will be compelled to take some action immediately. In these cases, diminished responsibility may be applied while deciding the nature of the punishment3. Under this context, no doubt, Claire is involved in killing her husband, but her mental state which was disturbed due to the unacceptable behavior of her husband and the thinking of protecting the genuine interests of her daughter led to this incident. Hence, she should be protected under criminal law and she was forced to indulge in this act only due to the circumstances happened during this period. Overall, the possible defence for Claire are discussed as follows: 1. Claire has not initiated any violent action from her end, rather she was patient for last 15 years with the unacceptable attitude of her husband. She knew that her husband was not in the process of transformation and hence she was very much convinced about his violent behavior. She was forced to protect herself and children and hence her mental balance was severely affected leading to the murder of her husband. Tony would have been punished for his forceful attempt for forcing his daughter to have sex with him if he had been alive by the court of law as in the case of Regina Respondent v R. Appellant4, 5. In this case, the husband was punished for attempting rape on his wife against her will and who has applied for divorce. According Section 1(1) of Sexual Offences Amendment Act (1976), any person who is indulged in attempting rape or any other sexual violence would be punished under court of law (S. v. H.M. Advocate6; Advocate, H.M. v. Duffy7; Reg. v. Casewell8). In the present case study, the attempt was made by Tony to rape his daughter which is unacceptable. There was no chance for her to stop him from that attempt and hence she decided to stop him and in that process, she committed a murder. The punishment of persons indulged in forceful sexual intercourse was also justified in cases such as Reg. v. Jackson9; Reg. v. J. (Rape : Marital exemption)10; Reg. v. Sharples11; Reg. v. Roberts12. This case is similar to that of R v Rose13 where a son has murdered his father to protect his mother from the serious assault. Moreover, the diminished responsibility and provision of partial or complete defence in cases of gross provocation and fear of serious violence was well documented in final recommendations of English Law Commission14. The case of diminished responsibility and self defence have been accepted for protecting the victims15&16. In those circumstances, the murder may be treated as a manslaughter. Hence, Claire should be provided immunity against the act of violence. 2. Claire did this murder only because of intolerable attitude of her husband and with a sole objective of protecting her elder daughter from the sexual harassment of her husband. English criminal law clearly mentions about the possibility of severe punishment in cases of sexual harassment. The act was so cruel that any human being living in a dignified society would condemn at highest degree and draws punishment in any court of law (Reg. v. Jones17; Reg. v. Kowalshi18; Reg. v. Steele19). The next moment, once her other children know about this incident, she and her children can’t raise her head in the society which might have led to her imbalance which in turn led to the murder. This also comes under the sexual offense20 & 21and indecency of children22 which is highly punishable. In some of the cases such as R. v. Camlin (Paul)23, it was clearly opined that the person who commits the murder must pass through the test of reasonable provocation, otherwise the protection wouldn’t be given to the accused or victim. The similar opinion was also shared y the Jury in cases like Bedder v. DPP24; Mancini v. DPP25 and Gorely v. Codd26. In the present case, Claire has satisfied the primary conditions for test of reasonability during her attack on her husband as self defence and she committed this extreme act only to protect the dignity and decency of her children and hence she should be provided reasonable level of protection. 3. The mental state at which Claire committed murder would protect her from this case of murder. This is because of the fact that in normal mental state she wouldn’t have involved in such an act. However, when she faced an unacceptable behavior from her husband and that too violating the interests of her eldest daughter, it is quite natural that she undergone a severe shock leading to mental imbalance. Moreover, she knew about his violent nature for long period and there was no chance for stopping him. The diminishing liability in cases of murders due to loss of mental balance was well described in cases such as R. v. Thornton (Sara Elizabeth) (no. 2)27; R. v. Humphreys (Emma)28; R. Morhaul (Alan Paul)29). The deviated mental behavior due to long term torturing and violent behavior of husbands in the form of battered women syndrome was also referred in the cases like Reg. v. Ahluvalia30; Reg. Morhall31; Rex. V. Hopper32; Reg. v. Rossiter33). Hence, Claire should be protected under this context. Even in some cases like R. v. Ahluvalia (Kiranjit)34, where the initial judgment has found fault with the defendant, but after thorough study and analysis of the facts of the case, retrial was ordered by the Jury. This was due to the convincing fact of losing mental balance as a process of continuous long term torturing by the husband which might have led to deviation form the normal behavior expected in general. It shouldn’t be treated as a sudden loss of mental state and hence the protection or immunity must be given to the victims. Similar view was also expressed in cases such as R. v. Ibrams (James David)35; R. v. Nevell36 and Parker v. Queen, The37. Hence, in the present case, as Claire has been mentally tortured by her husband for long time, there is no surprise to find her in mentally disturbed state. In her position, any woman would have undergone similar mental process. Moreover, as a response to a sudden and unacceptable violent act of her husband, she committed the murder and hence she should be provided protection. (b) One evening Tony loses his temper with Claire because the evening meal is not ready on time. He throws plates at her and scrams at her for over one hour. This has happened many times before. Claire is desperately unhappy and feels trapped. After the meal when Tony is watching the television she quietly leaves the house, gets in her car and drives over a cliff. She is killed instantly. The criminal liability of Tony for Claire’s death is as follows: In this case study, Tony is completely responsible for the killing of Claire. It is because of the fact that the mental torture created by Tony to Claire is highly objectionable and inexcusable. Such an act wouldn’t be appreciated in any dignified society as it results in a feeling of gradual and certain loss of enthusiasm about life in victims and it may also lead to frustration and deviation in normal mental balance. As a result, the victims may develop a feeling to end their lives and hence who ever is responsible for such type of acts have to be punished severely. It should be treated as an act responsible for the suicide of victims and punishment must be provided equal to the intensity of murder case. Hence, Tony should be made completely liable for the death of his wife as he regularly tortured her mentally. The judgment should also send strong signals to others who indulge in such domestic indecent activities leading to loss of life of others so that similar nature of incidents would be experienced at lesser frequency in future. Moreover, it has become a regular exercise for Tony to lose his temper and display his ill behavior to Claire which is highly intolerable for any woman. Claire has shown lot of patience, but after getting confirmed that the positive change in behavior is not found in Tony, she might have lost patience and her mental state has become abnormal. It was mentioned in some cases like R. v. Duffy38, R. v. Smith39, R. v. Dryden40 and R. v. Bowen41 that the loss of mental balance in any victim might be due to severe nervous exasperation for a long period leading to suffering and anxiety. It was also discussed in most elaborate manner in cases such as R. v. Richens42; R. v. Davies43 and R. v. Ellis44. In this way, she took a decision to end her life in frustration as there is no chance of finding positive outlook in nearby future. It is clear from this incident that the mental torture created by Tony for long period gradually eroded the confidence of Claire regarding any positive transformation in Tony. In addition, when such acts of irrational behavior happened repeatedly at a higher frequency, her feeling about her husband’s eccentric nature became more rigid and it was felt that Tony would never change. As a result, she lost her mental balance and developed pessimism about life and she involved in instant driving of car over a cliff leading to her death which comes under suicide case. Hence, Tony should be made liable for the Claire’s death. Tony must be punished for his responsibility in Claire’s death because his continuous ill treatment towards Claire is inexcusable and it is no less in intensity than a person committing any physical violence. Though the English criminal law provides good extent of immunity to the victims as long there is a proof for reasonability45 & 46of using force against the intruders (R v. Owino)47, in some of the cases where the defendant who killed the intruder in self defence, the Court gave a judgment for imprisonment as there was enough material for proving clear intention to kill the intruder. Once there is a mistake committed by the victims in killing the intruders and there is no reasonable justification for the same, the court will not provide any protection for self defence (R v Letenock48; R v O' Grady49; R v Majewski50). Tony might have felt that his ill behavior to Claire can’t be challenged in any court of law as women in general wouldn’t complain about domestic violence due to feeling of prestige in the society. But he has caused a negative impact of higher intensity in the mind of Claire i.e. loss of confidence and mental peace which is very crucial for dignified life. In this process, she felt cheated or trapped by getting married to Tony which might have led to more frustration about her life which in turn led to her death and hence Tony should be made completely liable for the death of his wife and the judgment should become an eye opener to all those people who indulge in domestic violence in one or other form. The unbearable harassment at home due to Tony is highly objectionable and no lady can tolerate such an attitude and hence Tony should be punished severely for Claire’s death. Moreover, Claire suffered from abnormality of the mind in the form of battered women syndrome51 and could have been provided protection under clause of diminished responsibility52 & 53 even if she had committed a murder according to section 2 of Homicides Act54. As Claire is a soft, sensitive and gentle lady, she took a decision for suicide due to the abnormality of mind for which Tony is completely responsible. Moreover, he is also responsible for developing a feeling in the mind of Clair that she was trapped badly due to the marriage agreement and she also felt that Tony would never get transformation towards positive side as she tested him for quite a long period. Hence, Tony is completely liable for the death of Claire and he should be severely punished for being responsible for creating a feeling of insecurity55 and mental torture56 in her mind under this context. Read More