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.
Held: The crime of murder required a specific intent to kill or cause serious bodily harm. Manslaughter did not. The conviction for manslaughter stood. A defendant cannot establish self-defence by means of a mistake induced only through a self-induced intoxication. The court had to balance two interests, first that a defendant should be free to defend himself according to his perceptions, and the need to protect others from a drunken mistake.
Judges:
Lord Lane LCJ
Citations:
[1987] 3 WLR 321, [1987] 1 QB 995
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 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 by:
Cited – Regina v Hatton (Jonathan) CACD 26-Oct-2005
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 . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Crime
Updated: 30 April 2022; Ref: scu.223561