The appellant, while in a secure hospital ward, had killed a male nurse. He was undoubtedly mentally disturbed at the time, suffering chronic paranoid schizophrenia. He was convicted of manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility. His defence at trial had been self-defence, he believing – genuinely but, as was accepted on appeal, by insane delusion – that the nurse was attacking him in order to rape him. It was submitted on an application for permission to appeal on his behalf – rather as it was submitted to us on this appeal – that it would be ‘unjust and unrealistic’ to deprive such a defendant of a defence ‘based on the reality, to him, of what was going on’. He now sought leave to appeal.
Held: The submission was rejected, and leave refused. Each member of the court ‘has found it impossible to identify the sort of exceptional circumstances in which it would be appropriate to take a psychiatric condition from which a defendant is suffering into account, when addressing the question of whether excessive force is used’.
Judges:
Rose LJ, Vice President, Forbes and Calvert-Smith JJ
Citations:
[2005] EWCA Crim 2264
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Approved – Martin v Regina CACD 30-Oct-2001
It would not be appropriate except in exceptional circumstances ‘which would make the evidence especially probative’ to take into account, when deciding whether excessive force was used in self-defence, that the defendant was suffering from a . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Crime
Updated: 08 May 2022; Ref: scu.560629