Summary of an appeal case - Essay Example

Lecturer’s Due Konzani v EWCA( 17 March 20005), London, England and Wales Court of Appeal: online http www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Crim/2005/706.html; last accessed 17 Jul.2014The nature of the case engrosses an appeal by Feston Konzani against a conviction passed by the Crown Court at Teesside on 14th May 2004, before the Honour Judge Fox and a jury. The defendant’s accusation involved three counts of inflicting severe bodily harm on three different women on separate accounts. That was dissimilar to section 20 of the Offences Against the Person act 1861. Mr. Timothy Roberts QC was the first to submit that the judge wrongly declined to leave the jury with the problem concerning the defendant who, despite being unreasonable, was honest that the complainant agreed to the risk of contracting HIV virus.

Second, the judge misguided the jury on the issue of consent as it implicated on the present case. Mr. Roberts developed a solution linking the judge’s decision with the fact that he deprived the appellant the Jury’s consideration whether he had a guilty mind or not. However, the sentence on each case was neither excessive nor wrong in principle. While reviewing the case, a number of particulars stand-out based on the case. The case is an aggregation of a number of cases. Although, the facts differ in the three cases, the common details in all the cases include information such as the defendant had an agreed sexual relationship with each woman.

Second, all three ladies voluntarily had unprotected sex with the defendant. Third, the appellant did not inform any woman about his HIV status. Finally, all three complainants assumed that the defendant was HIV negative; therefore, exposing themselves to the risk of obtaining a sexually transmitted infection as grievous as HIV virus. Does the establishing of any legal verdict allow the judge to direct the jury based on the issue of running a risk on one hand and complying to run that danger on the other hand?

Based on the courts judgement, the judge’s guidance to the jury adequately explained the correct implications to the case of the consensual contribution by each complainant’s to sexual intercourse with the appellant. The jury eventually gave the ruling that, in the case of each plaintiff, she did not willingly or cognitively agree to the risk of suffering the HIV virus. Therefore, the court will dismiss the appeal against conviction. The court reviewed its holding in the R v Dica case of informed consent as a defence resulted from limited potential conflicting public policy considerations.

In the light of the public interest, the population demands the prevention of the spread of catastrophic illnesses. On the other hand, it also needs that personal freedom in the context of adult non-violent sexual associations need maintenance. By concealing any information about one’s HIV status, the subject denies the other person the freedom to make a choice. Silence in such occurrences is inconsistent with truthfulness; therefore, the issue of informed consent rarely arises. Reference ListKonzani v EWCA( 17 March 20005), London, England and Wales Court of Appeal: online http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Crim/2005/706.

html; last accessed 17 Jul.2014