The defendant appealed his conviction for murder saying that his defence of having killed by virtue of a mistake which arose from his self-induced intoxication should have been allowed.
Held: The appeal failed. It had been argued that the comments on ths topic by Lord Lane in O’Grady were obiter since he was convicted of manslaughter. The term ‘obiter dicta’ is a term of legal art with no ready and accurate translation into English: ‘The term described judicial statements which were peripheral to the reason for the decision: the ratio decidendi’ The judgments in O’Grady made no distinction between murder and manslaughter. The issue was a general one. The court could not disregard the decision in O’Grady, and was bound by it.
Citations:
Times 10-Nov-2005
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Director of Public Prosecutions v Majewski HL 1976
The defendant took a cocktail of drink and drugs and, whilst intoxicated, assaulted pub landlord. He said that he did not know what he was doing, and had no mens rea, that self-induced intoxication could be a defence to a charge of assault, and that . .
Cited – Regina v O’Grady CACD 1987
The defendant and his associate drank substantial quantities of cider. They then fought and the defendant killed the associate. His defence was that he mistakenly thought his friend was attacking him. He appealed his conviction for manslaughter.
Cited – Regina v Williams (Gladstone) CACD 28-Nov-1983
The defendant believed that the person whom he assaulted was unlawfully assaulting a third party. That person was a police officer, who said he was arresting the other, but did not show his warrant card.
Held: The court considered the issue of . .
Cited – Beckford v The Queen PC 15-Jun-1987
(Jamaica) Self defence permits a defendant to use such force as is reasonable in the circumstances as he honestly believed them to be. ‘If then a genuine belief, albeit without reasonable grounds, is a defence to rape because it negatives the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Crime
Updated: 23 July 2022; Ref: scu.235770