Infanticide to be considered
The defendant, under great stress and at the least mood problems gave birth in the bathroom at home. She then killed the child by stabbing it. She now appealed against her conviction for murder saying that the judge should have left to the jury a possible conviction under the 1938 Act as well a an alternative of manslaughter.
Held: Her appeal succeeded, and a retrial ordered The two alternative offences were defined very differently and would require different approaches and assessments. The 1938 Act concentrated on the mother’s condition as a result of just having given birth. The judge’s approach would put such a person at a disadvantage when considering a charge of manslaughter. The causative element was properly one for the jury, there being evidence and the circumstances which might support that alternative.
Treacy LJ, Yip J, Judge Marson QC
[2018] EWCA Crim 1696, [2018] WLR(D) 462
Bailii, WLRD
Infanticide Act 1938 1(1)
England and Wales
Crime
Updated: 10 November 2021; Ref: scu.620167